


Anomaly

by AngelMoonGirl



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Action, Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst, Babyfic, Crystal Tokyo Era, Drama, F/M, Family, Fluff, Identity Reveal, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Mystery, Post Sailor Stars, Romance, Suspense, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-26 16:06:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 27,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15666618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelMoonGirl/pseuds/AngelMoonGirl
Summary: Dark challenges await in this post-Stars saga. As Mamoru struggles to decide between Usagi or college in America, the Sailor Senshi find a certain lost toddler from the future and Usagi begins suffering mysterious physical pains that drain her of energy.





	1. Prologue

Neo-Queen Serenity stretched, marking off the final period on her official court document with a neat flare of the hand. A languid grin split the corners of her mouth as she leaned back and considered the implications of free time; such a strange concept to her these days. Her mind drifted over all the possibilities before it chose to linger on her ebony-headed husband, and activities that would have set her poor mother to blushing. She hurriedly plucked up the papers, clumsily shuffling them before stuffing the lot into a cryptoscan for Mercury to glance over. Once that was done, Serenity inhaled loudly, a greedy expression still playing about her countenance.

If Endymion completed the finance portion early, then the two had nearly three hours with nothing to occupy them but their luxurious personal quarters, a deep tub, and one very soft, sublimely comfortable bed.

 _Well,_ _almost_ _nothing_ , the Neo-Queen amended, chuckling. She supposed Small Lady might turn up in an hour or so, claiming hunger or a boo-boo in need of kissing. Her daughter, at the tender age of two, was always getting into the closest mischief she could find. It drove Serenity nuts, trying to pin that child down, but Small Lady had an untameable spirit, and she refused to stay in one place for long. She loved wandering the palace, entertaining her flights of fantasy with Luna P by her side as the electronic cat-head conjured these specters of her imagination into life. Any other mother might have scoffed at the idea of a toddler roaming unattended, but Neo-Queen Serenity knew her daughter was anything but. Thanks to Sailor Pluto, Luna P had a built-in homing device that could alert the Senshi and Lady's parents to the slightest trouble. And then there were the kindly, ever ubiquitous palace staff who had taken Lady under their wing, assuring the royals that their offspring would be well cared for during the couple's absence. Serenity always fostered a small sense of guilt over how much kingdom duties separated her from Small Lady, but she was mollified by the thought that at least her daughter was protected, tended to, and loved in the wake of her parents' frequent departures.

She may have been an only child, but she had more family than she could possibly know.

oOo

King Endymion glanced up from a mountain of paper to greet his wife's chary countenance peering in the study's doorway. "Are you busy?"

"I'm never too busy for my beautiful wife," the raven-haired man quipped playfully, setting down his pen. He furrowed a brow at the antsy expression marring Serenity's face. "Are you alright?"

"I passed Sailor Jupiter on my way here. She said Small Lady hasn't made her usual rounds about the kitchen recently," the fair-headed Queen answered, as she nibbled nervously on the nail of her index. It was a terrible habit she'd broken years ago, but unfortunately the faux pas seemed to unconsciously resurrect itself whenever Serenity worried herself overmuch.

"I wouldn't fret, dear. You know how charmingly quixotic that child is," Endymion reassured, returning to his notes with a methodical eye. His tone was teasing as the King jabbed, "Rather like her mother in that respect. She'll turn up when she's hungry."

"But Endymion, none of the staff I asked seem to have seen Small Lady either-"

"Have you checked the Time Gate? Small Lady tends to go find her 'Puu' whenever she's bored."

Serenity stopped to consider that for a moment, then shook her head. "Pluto's on another of those mystery missions of hers. I believe she has Diana keeping guard in her stead."

"There you have it, then. Small Lady must be visiting her little friend," Endymion nodded, gazing up from his transcribing to smile at Serenity encouragingly. "And besides, Luna P would let us know if anything was amiss."

"I'm sure you're right," Serenity conceded reluctantly, "but I still can't shake the off feeling in my gut. Call it maternal instinct, but I fear something is wrong. I want to check up on her."

"Do you want me to accompany you?" Endymion inquired, straightening in his chair. Serenity rarely grew so agitated past her benign exterior, and it was beginning to concern him as well. If he concentrated very hard, the King could almost put his own finger on a niggling sense of danger lurking nearby. He was instantly glad for the connection shared between him, Serenity, and Small Lady. The man began to wonder if perhaps his daughter hadn't just decided to go traipsing balconies again... That one time a month ago had nearly given him and Serenity a heart attack (thank God for Venus and her quick thinking 'Love Me Chain'!), and they'd expressly forbidden the child from pulling stunts like that, much less step a foot outside without an adult nearby. Unfortunately, Small Lady had inherited an awfully scatterbrained disposition, and despite her uncommonly advanced age (203 years, to be exact- but 2 was an easier supposition)... the toddler was still mentally a toddler. At least, ninety-nine percent of the time. There were always those brief, exciting moments, when Small Lady demonstrated the intellectual insight or the physical aptitude of an older child. The majority of her life, however, the princess had spent unable to formulate nary but the simplest of words. It came as no surprise then to Endymion, that perhaps Small Lady did not comprehend the maintenance of such a rule. Usually the palace staff or Sailor Senshi could head the girl off before she got caught in flagrante delicto, but Endymion dreaded that this was not one of those times. He was about to stand when Serenity waved him back down.

"No, no, you have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time left to complete it in. I'll go. Like you said, she probably snuck off to the Time Gate."

"Well let me know immediately if she's not there," Endymion told his wife with a grave intonation. "Use the bond telepathy and I'll have security searching in an instant."

"I'll hurry," Serenity promised, and she sped off down the corridor like the shimmering ghost of a heavenly deity incarnate. Endymion watched the door warily in her wake, suddenly unable to focus the proper amount of attention on his report.

oOo

Sailor Venus tumbled with ungainly... er...  _fashionably late_  into the Queen's personal conference room, smoothing out her red hair ribbon as she did so. The woman jumped a foot in the air when a voice snapped from beside her heels,

"Where the hell have you been?"

The blonde warrior of Love smiled jocundly down at her guardian feline. "There's no need to bite my head off, Artemis. I was merely-"

"Never mind," the pale cat interrupted sharply, and Venus frowned at the way her old friend's back arched and hair stood on end.

"Artemis, what's going-"

"They found Diana at the Time Gate, unconscious. She had been attacked," Artemis said stiffly, throat swelling painfully as he related the gruesome details. The feline adviser had to avert his eyes when his charge moaned,

"Oh Artemis, I'm so sorry! Is she-"

"That's not the worst of it," Artemis continued gruffly, refusing to look up and observe the crumbling of Venus' features. "The... the princess has been kidnapped."

Venus gasped loudly, jerking her head in the direction of the thrones, where Sailor Senshi coalesced. She wondered how she'd missed it before; the tense atmosphere... Serenity's quietly agonizing sobbing... Endymion's stony, fury-filled countenance. His grip on Serenity's shoulder looked so tight it had to be painful, but Venus doubted her Queen felt it. She doubted Serenity felt anything other than hollow grief and and an all-consuming fear, at the moment. Without any further ado, the last Inner to arrive raced over to Serenity and Endymion, Artemis on her tail. She inched past hovering Mars and teary Jupiter, currently clutching a battered Luna P. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain that the circuits were fried, antenna fizzling electricity in random spurts. Venus stopped directly in front of her anguished leader and uttered in a horrified, hushed whisper,

"My God, I just heard the news. Serenity-"

But instead of answering aloud, aforementioned monarch thrust a tattered, wrinkled sheet of paper at Venus. Serenity turned back to weeping as her Senshi read the short missive with shaking hands.

 **_Break the chains_ **  
**_She brings End_ **  
**_Through her pains_ **  
**_We'll begin again_ **

**_Anomaly_ **

There was a faint smear of blood tainting the bottom of the haunting message, immediately beside the strange moniker.

"We've already scanned for DNA," Mercury stated through trembling lips, voice violently choked by emotion. "It matches Small Lady's."


	2. Chapter 1

The ebbing sun cast a rich splattering of color across the sky's darkening canvas, sinking behind a line of mountains to the west. A couple watched this descent in silence from the balcony of a high-rise apartment complex, fingers twined with a myriad of emotions - from contentment all the way to sorrow - marring both countenances. The young woman sighed, laying her golden head against the firm chest of her male companion. He, in turn, began carding his fingers through her strange yet flattering coiffure of twin odango, admiring the silvery highlights born only under fading sunlight.

"Usako..." the ebony-haired man murmured with hungry, wistful inflection. The smaller of the two frowned, blinking rapidly up at the vibrant hues painted across the cobalt sky before her. Any who ever knew her might have surmised the act disguised a burgeoning onslaught of tears - wails and whimpers had never been a stranger to Tsukino Usagi. Yet, even the most imperceptive observer could tell the girl's eyes were free from moisture.

The evolution had been subtle, so when Tsukino Usagi proclaimed she was done with always being prone to flights of puerility, it had shocked everyone. Most bet that the metamorphosis would only last a few days, but Usagi surprised her friends a second time when days turned to weeks, and weeks to months. Ever since the departure of Seiya and the Star Lights, she seemed to have grown in leaps and bounds. With Luna and her Senshi's lavishing praise as motivation, Usagi focused great effort into all aspects of her life, be it school or their daily training sessions. Many often reflected with pride that Usagi was slowly shaping into the Neo-Queen destiny had proclaimed she would emerge into Crystal Tokyo as, but at times they worried whether they weren't losing their innocent, naive, and carefree Odango Atama in the process. To their fears, Usagi would just smile in that knowing way of hers, then proceed to complain of studying and sundae urges until all were assured everything was right in the world -

Tsukino Usagi would always be Tsukino Usagi, no matter how many new titles she donned.

Today, however, it appeared Usagi was practicing her newfound maturity to the fullest extent, as she was refraining from her typical dissolution into sobs in favor of quietly stoic acceptance. Still, a modicum of grief seeped into the teen's mournful,

"Mamo-chan, is this really it? Our last night together?"

Mamoru placed his chin atop the crown of his freshly seventeen-year-old girlfriend's head.

"The new semester snuck up on us quickly, didn't it? I wish... Usako, I wish..."

"What, Mamo-chan?" Usagi prompted, pulling away from the safety of his warm grasp to gaze fervently up at him. She tried futilely to decipher the new expression on his face. Mamoru looked down at the small woman staring up at him with pain in his features.

"Sometimes... sometimes, I wish I wasn't following through with Harvard. America is so far, Usako. I already missed a year with you. I don't want to miss another. I'm not sure I want to do this anymore," he confessed, and suddenly the blonde before him came to life with righteous indignation.

"Mamo-chan," Usagi said sternly, inserting her hands on her hips and bestowing an admonishing glare upon him. "In the name of the moon, you will  _not_ skive out of an experience like Harvard on account of me!"

Mamoru, taken aback, gaped.

Usagi's azure eyes softened. "Besides... I'll always be here when you return. What's a year compared to eternity? This is a time for you to focus on your dream... on becoming a doctor! Who knows how much longer we have until Crystal Tokyo? Until then, I can wait. Until then, I'll study hard. I'll become the perfect wife for you, Mamo-chan. And one day, maybe I'll even be a perfect queen too."

Mamoru chuckled at the earnestness contained in his princess' conviction, but despite her uncommon wisdom, she truly did not understand...

"Usako," he whispered teasingly, bending down to kiss the feisty blonde, "you don't have to change. You  _are_  perfect."

Usagi supplied him with a quick lopsided grin, accompanied by thoroughly disbelieving eyes, just before she lost control of her lips to the raven-headed paladin. When the pair pulled back from their heated embrace, Mamoru grabbed up the seventeen-year-old's hand and plucked off the promise ring she always wore.

"Mamo-chan...?"

"Shh," he breathed, pressing a finger to Usagi's consternated mouth. "I'm a man of tradition. You'll get it back tomorrow."

Usagi pouted playfully. "Hey. I need that to hide my ring tan."

Mamoru gave a velvety laugh. "You can do without it for a day, can't you?"

"I'm going to be superficial and say 'no'," Usagi quipped, dodging his nimble hands as they shot out to tickle her, probably into submission. Unfortunately, grace was yet to manifest itself in the future monarch and the girl tripped over her own feet, tumbling precariously backward. As always, Mamoru was there to catch her.

"Oh, what am I going to do without you?" Usagi lamented, clutching the lapels of his jacket while Mamoru held her close.

"Learn the art of balance, no doubt. After all, you'll soon grow tired of acquiring bruise after bruise without a certain hot man in a tuxedo to race to your sudden fall." He meant it to be a gibe, but the prediction issued doleful and bitter. "God, I'll miss you, Usako."

Usagi made a little noise of concurrence, choking, "Don't let me go tonight. I want to spend every minute we have left in your arms."

"Your parents won't mind if you...?"

"Mama thinks I'm at Mako-chan's. It's the most convenient solution. If she tries calling, there's only Mako-chan to talk to; no equally ignorant and nosy parents who can't keep a secret to save their life."

"And Mako-san?"

"She'll cover for me. She knows," Usagi assured, implicit faith on her countenance. Her chest rose and fell in tempo to the desperate drumbeat within. Mamoru paused for a moment, dark midnight eyes latching onto her similarly deep oceans of cerulean. Each seemed to realize what the other was thinking, and during that instant's breath, the mood shifted and temperature escalated.

When Mamoru next moved in to claim Usagi's lips, it was with far different intentions. The blonde felt her body react in surprising ways to the change from mellow to needy, and she succumbed to the romance invited in his suddenly feral touch with open arms.

Tonight would be their farewell to trounce all farewells.

Tonight, they would seal their love with a union unsevered by any distance.

Tonight, Chiba Mamoru was going to hold Tsukino Usagi, refusing to relinquish his grip until dawn paraded in his final day in Tokyo.


	3. Chapter 2

She had not said a thing the entire study session, but this unusually laconic behavior from their leader had not elicited great surprise from any of the Sailor Senshi gathered in Rei's bedroom. After all, the man she loved was only hours away from stepping on a plane to America. It was only natural, then, that when Tsukino Usagi finally did open her mouth on this sunny Saturday morning and revealed something earth-shattering, the girls reacted with more than a little shock.

"We did it last night."

Minako, who had been leaning over to ask Ami a question about her math homework, toppled boneless to the floor. Makoto dropped the pencil she'd been nibbling on, Rei's jaw went slack, and Ami's book slid from her pale fingers.

"You WHAT!?"

Usagi turned an unpleasant pink at the sudden intense attention. "I- I'm not a virgin anymore," she admitted in a whisper, fiddling with her fingers in supreme embarrassment. As much as she hated the newfound focus, it just didn't seem right to keep something so life-changing from her best friends.

Minako shot up from the ground. "Please tell me it was with Mamoru-san?"

Everyone glared at the effervescent blonde.

"Minako-chan, of  _course_ it was with Mamoru-san... um, it  _was_ with Mamoru-san, right, Usagi-chan?" Makoto sought for confirmation, grinning sheepishly.

"So little faith," Usagi grumbled, rolling her eyes. "What do you think I do, hang out on street corners all night?"

"Point taken," the brunette chuckled, and Rei narrowed her eyes at Usagi.

"You did use protection, didn't you?"

"Well, no, but-"

" _Usagi_!"

"You're still in high school, Usagi-chan! How can you be so thoughtlessly irresponsible? Think about the future ahead of you," Ami lamented, shaking her head.

"I swear, if there's a bun in the oven...!" Makoto threatened, cracking her knuckles. Minako reached over and gave Usagi's flat abdomen a sharp- and rather painful- poke.

"I'M NOT PREGNANT!" Usagi hollered over the din of her friends, curling her mouth in consternation and swatting Minako's curious appendage away. The room went quiet, waiting for an explanation. Usagi took a deep breath and laid a hand over her stomach. "I'm not. I'm just coming off my period, and besides, I think I would know if there was a life growing inside me. Maybe it's Senshi intuition, or the Silver Crystal keeping me attuned to the processes of my body, but... I would just  _know_. Okay? I'm not pregnant."

There seemed to be a collectively relieved exhale of air following this reassurance.

"Man, I never thought I'd lose to Usagi-chan," Minako pouted, irately blowing the bangs from her eyes. She tucked her chin into her palm and sighed. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised, though. She  _was_  the only one with a boyfriend around here."

"Don't remind me," Makoto brooded in equal abjection. But, she perked up rather quickly and turned to Usagi with a smirk that stretched from ear to ear. Usagi gulped. "I hope you like to kiss and tell, Usagi-chan... otherwise, there's a hefty thunderbolt with your name on it."

"Think of it as informing your poor, uninformed comrades," Rei leered, also straightening up in interest. Ami just hid her flushed face behind a physics textbook, though no one doubted she wasn't listening intently to every word. "What was it like? How did he start?"

"He... it started like it usually would, I suppose," Usagi mumbled, peeking over at Ami and imagining how red she was in comparison. Minako groaned.

"You've got to elaborate more than  _that_ , Usagi-chan!"

"Well... that's how it went! We kissed a bit, got a little adventurous with our hands, and then suddenly he took me into his room. I mean, it did hurt a little when he- you know-" The girls cringed and nodded sympathetically while Usagi cleared her throat, awkwardly continuing, "but after that, it was... beautiful. There really aren't any other words. It was the perfect way to say goodbye; to show each other how much we loved each other. I feel like we've never been closer."

"Gosh, I'm jealous," Minako moped again, twisting her countenance petulantly. Then she started, staring at Usagi's bare hand. "Hey, your ring!"

"Oh, yeah," Usagi tittered self-consciously, looking down and wiggling her fingers. It felt strange to no longer have the band circling her skin after so many months of its comforting presence. Despite the convenience of not having to worry about getting it dirty, she missed the ring terribly - it was as much a piece of Mamoru as it was a reminder of their future; their union. "Mamo-chan's going to give it back before he leaves. Tradition, or whatnot."

She shrugged, but the girls all exchanged gleeful expressions.

"Usagi-chan, that's so sweet!" Ami practically crooned, resurfacing from her book. Usagi eyed her skeptically.

"Really? I just sort of thought Mamo-chan was being silly or something. He gets these crazy ideas sometimes-" Usagi started to say, but Makoto shook her head.

"Ami-chan's right. This sounds serious," she contemplated sagely, tapping a finger to her lip.

"Serious?" Usagi gasped, glancing from Senshi to Senshi in part-worry, part-confusion. Unfortunately, they all decided to ignore her in favor of what appeared to be delirious rambling.

"Must be close, now," Rei commented lightly, and Minako nodded vigorously.

"And after...? Hey, do you think..."

"No, surely not yet, it's too soon-" Ami protested, but she was interrupted by Makoto's cheerful,

"You never know!"

"Guys! What? What's serious? Is Mamo-chan okay?" Usagi pleaded, but they all smiled at her blithely.

"Finish your homework, Usagi-chan," Ami said gently, gesturing to the stack of books beside her blonde friend. "It would be awful having to think about math problems right after Mamoru-san left."

"What's serious?" Usagi repeated, with the merest hint of her idiosyncratic whine. "Tell meeee!"

"Wouldn't want to jinx anything," Minako countered, waving her hand nonchalantly as if the whole strange telepathic conversation had been nothing. Usagi scowled. "We'll have to wait and see."

"Wait and see  _what_?"

"If you can do this equation by the time we have to leave for the airport," Rei drawled sarcastically, jabbing her finger at a particularly nasty linear inequality. "Virgin or not, I think I preferred you sulking silently in the corner."

Usagi stuck her tongue out at the raven-haired priestess, grabbing up a pencil. Well, if they weren't going to cooperate, she would need  _something_ to distract her from Mamoru's impending flight - even if it was homework, which just stressed to the girl how very desperate she was!


	4. Chapter 3

Usagi twisted a loose lock of golden hair anxiously, listening to the booming voice of a pleasant young woman directing passengers on to their flights. She had come to hate the airport, with all its endless hustling and bustling. The atmosphere was too harried and impersonal for her tastes, but overshadowing it all was the feeling of sorrow and dread she'd come to associate with planes. Ever since Mamoru's death at the hand of Galaxia, the mere thought of the airport sent Usagi's mind into a worried frenzy. What she truly needed was Mamoru, holding her tethered; protected. The superheroine's hand tightened around the wayward strand of hair, breathing ragged as she sought out the distinct figure of her departing boyfriend.

A palm stopped to rest gently on Usagi's shoulder, and the seventeen-year-old shot Makoto a jittery but reassuring smile. The other girls probably assumed it was just a severe case of nerves, and Usagi didn't feel like expounding on her newfound fear. Not today. No, today was all about goodbyes. And speaking of which -

"Usako!"

"Mamo-chan!"

The Senshi held back as Usagi fielded the terminal with frightening speed to dive into Mamoru's suitcase-laden arms. They watched from afar as their blonde leader nuzzled her cheek against his green jacket before Minako interrupted the romantic moment with a devious grin and ten yen.

"I'm sensing some good vibes, girls. Who wants to place a few friendly bets?"

"Ugh, Minako-chan, you are unbelievable," Rei bemoaned, but in typical hypocritical fashion she pulled out a crisp bill and waved it in the Love Soldier's face. "This says he'll pop the question with a new ring."

"I told you, it's too soon. He won't propose. She's not even out of high school yet," Ami argued, although the pedantic was largely ignored by her wagering comrades. With an exasperated sigh, the girl scooted two feet to the left and pretended she had no clue who these loud, brawling adolescents currently flinging money around were. Besides, Usagi and Mamoru's exchange looked  _much_  more interesting.

oOo

Coaxing her countenance into a replica of joy, Usagi pulled back from Mamoru's arms and reached up on tiptoe to grace him with a quick kiss. Mamoru chuckled as he observed how determinedly his future wife was keeping up a smile this time around, proud at the fact that she had learned how to master her tears. He cradled the blonde's cheek and asked quietly,

"How's the soreness?"

"I can barely feel it," Usagi replied blithely, tightening her fingers around his warm hand as she continued to refer to the night before. "But the pain was certainly worth the prize."

Mamoru blushed behind a cheeky smirk. He let go of Usagi's face and his hand seemed to hesitate at the zipper on his suitcase. Usagi watched this strange display with interest before Mamoru shook himself with an embarrassed cough, instead reaching into his jacket pocket. His appendage came back with a black box.

Usagi squealed. "You remembered!"

"What sort of a boyfriend would I be if I broke a promise like this?" Mamoru joked, flipping open the small, velvet container to reveal Usagi's old ring. With smooth ease he plucked up the band and slipped it back onto the flaxen's finger. Usagi released a contented sigh, relishing in the sensation of wholeness that erupted somewhere in her chest. Gods, had she missed that ring.

"Every day we are apart will only serve to heighten my love, Usako. I swear I will make this separation as short and as easy as possible, for both of us."

"You'll write me? And call the minute you arrive?" Usagi pressed, fiddling with the ring as ambivalence entered her voice for the first time that afternoon. She batted her eyelashes at the ground, leaning closer to the ebony-headed man's familiar body heat.

"The very second," Mamoru vowed.

"And just that once, alright? Just so I know you're safe. I don't want you wasting your precious college fund making international calls every other night," Usagi said, with the merest suggestion of playful admonishment lurking in her tone. Mamoru laughed aloud at how crazy the words spewing from his girlfriend's mouth sounded; usually  _he_  was the one warning  _her_!

"Right. After today, only letters. I don't care how busy I'll be; after last year, I'll make certain you receive at least one piece of correspondence a week."

Usagi exhaled in relief, feeling as though a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She straightened up, now smiling for real. "You'll blow Harvard away, I  _know_ it. I love you, Mamo-chan."

"And I love you, Usako."

Mamoru had just tugged Usagi into his embrace when the awful announcement echoed into the busy airport.

" _Flight 283 for Boston is now boarding and will be taking off in fifteen minutes. That's Flight 283,_ " the amiable repetition resounded.

Usagi made a strangled little noise into the fabric of Mamoru's jacket and he half thought she was going to cry, but that obstinate smile was still brightening her features when the blonde resurfaced. They kissed again, long and heartfelt. Mamoru looked uncertain when the pair finally severed, inching for his suitcase's zipper a second time.

"Usako, I-"

"No, no! There's not enough time; tell me on the phone! You're going to miss your flight if you delay any more than you already have!" Usagi exclaimed, shoving Mamoru exuberantly onward. He frowned for a long moment then shrugged with a belated sigh, and waved to the Inners before being escorted by the crowd toward his plane.

"Good luck with your studies!" Usagi called, and she heard Mamoru yell similar sentiments as the flood of travelers wound farther away. Usagi caught his eye just once before Mamoru disappeared into security, and in that instant they shared a lovingly optimistic smile that sent butterflies scattering in Usagi's stomach.

_Maybe, this time, everything will turn out okay..._

And then he was gone, and the tenuous grip the girl had on composure - which had been fraying rapidly as Usagi watched Mamoru leave - shattered at last.

She turned, sobbing, only to find arms encircling her from all angles.

Wordlessly, the Senshi led Usagi out of the airport she so despised and out into blinding sunshine, her ring sending sparkling rainbows bouncing every which way.

It wasn't until much later, after hours of comforting the distraught blonde and sitting beside her waiting for Mamoru's phone call, that anyone realized they were out ten yen.


	5. Chapter 4

"I can't believe it," Makoto breathed, shaking her head back and forth in a mix of both exasperation and humor. "Minako-chan's spidey senses were wrong! Mamoru-san didn't propose... That's got to be a first."

Rei peeked through the doorway leading into the Tsukino entrance hall with a smirk on her face, watching the aforementioned blonde distract Usagi from the girl's own impatience. It was late evening, and they were waiting for Mamoru's call; the one that would reassure his nail-nibbling girlfriend that no, the plane did not go down in a freak storm and no, they were not attacked by vicious, star seed stealing Sailor Senshi along the way. At least, that's how they hoped the conversation would go. "Eh, she's been frequently off the mark before. Oh, did I say 'frequently'? I meant all the time."

"Aw, you're just miffed because you lost money to Minako-chan," Makoto snickered.

"On a freaking technicality! Just because I said he'd propose with a new ring and she said it'd be with the old one, and suddenly _I_  lose money to her? It's bull, that's what!"

"You shouldn't have wagered anything at all," Ami scolded, sneaking up behind the two quarreling eavesdroppers with a pot of tea in hand. "Mamoru-san's not the sort of man who would push a woman into marriage so early in life."

"Or would he?" Makoto leered, green eyes gleaming playfully. "He already deflowered our sweet little Usagi-chan, didn't he? What's next... shotgun wedding?"

"Ooh, you are unbelievable, you know that? All of you," Ami frowned, pushing past a giggling Rei.

"We're only joking!" Makoto called, but the glare she received in return was less than forgiving. "Yeesh, mother bear on the prowl... you know, I bet if we asked Usagi-chan, she'd jump at the chance to skip school and become a bride instea-"

The brawny warrior of Jupiter was interrupted by a shrill octave that was quickly eclipsed by an even louder shriek full of euphoric excitement. Rei schooled her features and bound out of hiding just as Usagi grabbed up the singing telephone. Makoto followed suit soon after recovering use of her ears.

"Mamo-chan!"

The Senshi jumped into position around their glowing leader, piping hot tea forgotten as even Ami crowded in to listen.

"Mamo-chan, I- oh. Oh, I'm sorry. She's not here right now; may I take a message? Mm-hmm. Okay. No, we're not interested, I can tell you that now. Goodbye." Usagi hung up with a dour look painted across her countenance. "Stupid salesmen."

There was silence for a second, then everyone gathered realized just how close they were to being burnt. Ami stepped away sheepishly before she caused damage on a catastrophic scale, offering tea to a willing Usagi. The blonde gulped the cup empty as she suffered the wrath of let-down.

"They always call at the most inconvenient times, don't they?" Minako scowled. "I remember this one time I was in the bathtub before school-"

"Please," Rei interrupted, raising a hand. "Spare us the details. Lunch belongs within me, not without."

"Whaaat? It's a good story!" Minako pouted.

"To one with a dirty mind, perhaps, but I'm sure us normal people would prefer  _not_  to hear of your experience with raunchy telemarketers trying to sell inflatable sex toys-  _again_. Considering it's been told about five times before..."

"Try three, my so-called omniscient friend," Minako mumbled irately at the priestess, but any argument that would have ensued was mercifully redirected by an insistent * _BRINGGGG!*_ and Usagi tripping to scoop up the receiver on first ring. Luck was favorable; Usagi squealed when the swoon-inducing baritone greeted her with silky familiarity.

"I thought you'd never call!  _What took you so long_?"

"I've been flying across three continents and the ocean all day, Usako! Cut me some slack!" Mamoru's laugh resounded tinny in the hallway. The girls exchanged wide smiles; if it weren't for the miles separating them, they could have sworn Mamoru was right here at Usagi's side. They could just imagine the usual idiosyncratic smirk, sprinkled with the merest suggestion of mischievousness and adulation. The casual stance; the arm tucked around Usagi's waist. Those velvety blue eyes would have feasted on Usagi's glee before winking out as he kissed her soundly, chasing away all the seventeen-year-old's fears that the past would repeat itself; that chaos would sneak its way into their lives once more. The Senshi knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Mamoru longed to do just that. Unfortunately, intimacy over the phone was going to have to suffice, and so it was with complete understanding and a spark of maturity that the four snoops slipped away into the Tsukino sitting room to give their friend her due privacy.

oOo

"How's Mamoru-san?" Ami inquired as Usagi returned a full thirty minutes later, face shining happily with relief and possibly old tear tracks.

"Wonderful," she said warmly, hopping onto the sofa next to Makoto. Rei reached over from the floor and quickly rubbed the girl's arm; a brief gesture of consolation and affection. "He's settling into his dorm room at Harvard, though with the time difference it's early morning so Mamo-chan's heading off for a quick nap before engaging in any serious unpacking. He's really excited for his classes, too. Says he'll try his hardest to get all A's!"

"A worthy goal," Ami commented with sparkling eyes, chuckling when Usagi responded with a carefree shrug.

"Mamo-chan's smart. I never believed he would earn any less."

"Did he duel to the death with any maniacs en route?" Minako asked teasingly.

"No," Usagi answered slowly, lips twitching in either mirth or annoyance.

"Ignore her, Usagi. Minako-chan's insensitivity never fails to astound," Rei sniffed. Minako glared from across the coffee table.

"I'm only trying to make light of the situation. Usagi-chan's clearly still upset. I hate it when she's upset," the effervescent flaxen admitted in a moment of sincerity.

"I know you're just trying to make me feel better, Minako-chan," Usagi smiled, blinking back moisture. "Thank you for being so... well, you. And for keeping me company this afternoon, too. Between you guys and Mamo-chan's correspondence - knowing he's safe - I think... I think this time, I'll be able to get through the waiting period. What's a year compared to eternity?"

Usagi glanced down at her ring following the whispered recollection from her and Mamoru's last night together; the night they finally consummated their love. She smiled. No matter how long the wait, how far the distance, they would always have that memory - that night - to keep them connected.

oOo

A week passed with surprising speed. Usagi seemed mollified by the fact that Mamoru had, true to his word, begun sending letters. She had only received two so far, short scribblings clearly sent one after the other, but every word was carefully chosen with love in mind and she cherished these missives dearly. She stored them under lock and key in a special box that only Luna had access too, but the black feline was more interested in keeping Usagi focused on her academics than peeking at those novels of sap. As it was, the Friday afternoon following Mamoru's departure found Usagi and her loyal guardian taking up residence in a quiet corner of the public library. Usagi was sweating over her reply to Mamoru's latest Harvard update, but the words were obstinately refusing to flow... or was it simply the lack of anything resembling action in the lives of the Sailor Senshi as of late? Usagi gnawed her eraser and Luna released a much aggrieved groan.

"It's been three hours, Usagi-chan. Three hours and you've penned out  _four sentences_. Let's give this letter up for dead and start on your grammar essay, huh? At least there is progress to be made in your practicing-"

"Well isn't this table turned?" the blonde muttered, cerulean eyes flicking over the majestic columns of books glassily. The library had become one of her favorite haunts of late. Usagi could almost sense Mamoru in the musty smell of classic literature, ensconced in these hallowed halls so stocked with every facet of history. Studying anything in reach had always been one of Mamoru's hobbies; Usagi remembered Makoto once referring to him as a "jack of all trades". He was a man of culture, of education, so it was in this library that Usagi felt the closet - the most attuned - to him.

"...what?"

Usagi shook herself from reverie at Luna's query. "Sorry, I just meant... the tables have turned. Only a year ago it was  _me_ clamoring to tell Mamo-chan about every minute detail of my day. I had so much to say, and now... Luna, I hate to admit it, but life is boring. My letter is going to consist of moaning about math trivialities and that fight my parents had over laundry duty! I don't want to torture Mamo-chan like that."

Luna chuckled. "Brighten up, Usagi-chan. I would have thought this peace was something to embrace, not disparage!"

"But that's the problem, Luna," Usagi whispered, laying down her pencil to gaze restlessly out the window. A dark shadow fell over the moon princess' expressive eyes. "I can't exactly put my finger on it but... Something doesn't feel right. This may not be the calm  _after_  a storm, but  _before_..."

Luna stared at her charge in concern. Her whiskers twitched and the ebony-hued cat pounced into Usagi's lap.

"Let's go get some ice cream," she purred, trying to stir the teen with a gentle lick to the palm. "Okay?"

Usagi started, scratching behind Luna's ears as she endeavored to clear her mind of faint, foreboding premonitions. "Yeah. I like that idea."


	6. Chapter 5

**_Dear Mamo-chan,_ **

**_I miss you so much! I hope classes have been going well (getting all A's so far, right?). I guess mine are, but it's so hard to concentrate knowing I haven't seen your beautiful smiling face in a whole week. Don't worry, Luna hasn't lost her frightening way with persuasion, so I have no problem keeping my nose to the books... (when I have to! =^.^=). Lately it's been pretty rainy, though the sun has finally decided to peek out and help us celebrate the weekend! Yay! What is the weather like in America?_ **

Usagi grunted and tossed her pencil at the wall with an ornery glare. School? The weather? How dull could she be in seven sentences or less?

"I give up," the girl grumbled, crumpling up her fifth attempt at a cheerfully engaging reply that wouldn't just succeed in putting Mamoru to sleep. She threw it aside and stood up, stretching her sore back muscles with a satisfying pop. Moonlight streamed in from Usagi's open bedroom window. Nimbly, the blonde poked her head outside, taking in a deep mouthful of cool evening hair. She contemplated starting another letter, but Usagi realized what she needed most was to leave this stuffy room and clear her head with a nice, relaxing walk.

 _An escape_ , she thought.  _That sounds positively appealing._

Unfortunately, like most nights when she tried to sneak out, Tsukino Ikuko was there to accost her daughter at the front door.

"And just  _where_  do you think you're going at a quarter to eight, young lady?"

"Mama, it's not a school night! And I just want to take a walk, okay?" Usagi whined, trying to inch around her dishcloth-wielding mother. To most, the old rag was less than intimidating, but Usagi knew Ikuko packed quite the punch when it came to whapping one with said cloth.

Ikuko chewed her lip, deliberating. Her light blue eyes searched out Usagi's face, some foreign emotion hiding behind her features. "Alright. But I want you home within fifteen minutes, do you hear me? I want us to spend time together as a family for once. I know you love your friends, but Usagi- dear- your father and I hardly ever see you anymore! You don't talk, you disappear for hours at a time- frankly, Usagi, I'm worried."

Usagi blinked, averting her gaze in shame and regret. "I'm sorry, Mama. I'm just... so busy..."

Ikuko sighed, shoulders drooping ever-so-slightly. "And I understand. Truly, I do. I remember what it was like to be a teenager; to be in love and to be surrounded by friends who were more like my sisters than my own blood relations... Just be careful, okay? One day you might wake up and find you've ostracized yourself from your own family."

Usagi sucked in a pained breath, pushing past Ikuko with a bowed head and quick, "Yes, Mama." She burst out the door, waving wildly toward the house and jogging around the corner. It wasn't until Usagi was sure she was out of her mother's sight that she let the carefree smile falter.

_Oh Mama, I hate it too... If only I could tell you the truth..._

The blonde frowned at the sidewalk as she meandered slowly through the familiar neighborhood, hopping cracks almost unconsciously as her mind dwelled between the conundrums her mother and Mamoru had inadvertently created. Why did life always feel the need to become complicated in the absence of ethereal beings bent on taking over the world? Usagi sighed. At least personal problems weren't life threatening. She could still count on some things to never change.

There was a blur of ebony and Usagi yelped when it collided with her shoulder.

"Usagi-chan?" Crimson-colored eyes stared up in confusion at the surprised teen.

"Luna! I thought you were visiting Artemis?"

"I already did. I was on my way home. And I thought  _you_ were finishing up your letter to Mamoru-san...? It's getting late, young lady. You of all people know wandering the streets at night is not the brightest of ideas, Usagi-chan."

"You sound like Mama," Usagi huffed, carefully extricating Luna from her guardian feline's perch. Not that she minded Luna stealing rides on her shoulder, but at the moment Usagi wanted something to cuddle. "And I was. Until I starting hitting the wall, once again."

"...figuratively, yes?" Luna sounded worried, and Usagi couldn't help but roll her eyes.

" _Nooo_ , sometimes I just get random urges to pummel my bedroom wall with the Moon Tier when things get frustrating," she drawled sarcastically. " _Of course_ figuratively, Luna! What kind of person do you think I am?"

"I don't know, Usagi-chan. You've been awfully distracted lately," Luna broached delicately, and Usagi said nothing as she realized the veracity in her companion's observation. "Truthfully, I'm a little worried. Yesterday I caught you staring into space when you should have been doing homework. And this afternoon I had to remind you to look both ways for traffic before you stepped into the intersection!"

"My mind's been preoccupied," the girl interjected, just a touch defensively.

"And I realize that. But Usagi-chan,  _please_ , you can't let your worry for Mamoru-san detract from all that progress you managed to make. It isn't healthy for your grades and it certainly isn't beneficial for your safety, either."

"I'm sorry, Luna. I'll try harder; I will," Usagi promised, scratching the cat behind her ears. Luna purred contentedly at the sincerity in Usagi's voice. "After all, Mamo-chan is-"

There was a sudden explosion of gold in the sky, so brilliant it temporarily blinded the seventeen-year-old. She forgot what they had been talking about as shock took a clamp to her vocal cords, and throughout the street, curtains were being thrown open as curiosity sent people searching for the source of the strange light.

"C-Chibi-Usa-chan?" Luna wondered aloud, and Usagi could tell their train of thought was barreling down the same track. Without even so much as a warning, the blonde dropped Luna and began sprinting in the direction of the familiar energy beam, currently pulsing like a giant arrow in the sky, pointing Usagi in the right direction. It was instinctual; Chibi-Usa was here and she was in danger. Usagi knew beyond a shadow of a doubt something was wrong; that this was perhaps the catalyst to igniting the storm that had been slowly brewing ever since Mamoru's departure. She had to get to the girl; had to save Chibi-Usa before someone else stumbled upon her future daughter first. Usagi could hear Luna trotting in her wake, but didn't stop to let the cat catch ground.

The pair were in propinquity of the park when the light dissipated into nothing, leaving behind a suddenly darker night and a bitter, hollow taste in Usagi's mouth. She continued racing onward, however, determined to reach Chibi-Usa wherever the child may be.

"Usagi-chan, stop!"

Usagi ignored Luna, staggering into a cluster of trees, where she had seen the residual energy last. Chibi-Usa had to be around here  _somewhere_.

" _Us_ -a- _gi_... dammit, STOP!" the cat snapped in a hiss, and at Luna's unexpectedly fierce tone, Usagi paused. She whirled to glare at her celestial-born guardian.

" _What_?"

"I want you to consider our situation. I want you to  _stop_  and  _think_ before you run headlong into what may very well be a trap," Luna preached, and her fur was standing on end as the black feline's eyes flicked this way and that for anything that might jump out and attack her charge. "Why have we not heard from Chibi-Usa-chan if she is, supposedly, here? Why her signature out of the blue?"

"I... I don't know, maybe she tried to contact us and couldn't; maybe this is her way of signalling for help," Usagi rambled, and as her mind spun worst case scenarios her hands began to wring anxiously. "Luna, Chibi-Usa is here and she's in danger... I can  _feel_  it, in my gut. Please, we have to at least look..."

Luna was silent for a few seconds until she finally relented with an aggrieved groan. "Alright. I will trust you on this. But if anything happens, you transform. Immediately. Got it?"

"You don't even have to remind me," Usagi smiled softly, and then she threw herself into searching every mossy nook and cranny. Luna kept uncomfortably close, practically curling around Usagi's legs as she appraised their surroundings, watching for anything out of place. And that's when she spotted it; a gentle rustle in the bushes and a flash of white, almost undetectable to her nocturnal eyes were it not for the cat's heightened senses on alert for any form of movement.

"Usagi-chan, over there," Luna whispered, gesturing to an overgrown thicket. Usagi put a finger to her lips and tiptoed over to the aforementioned bush, hands unsteady as they parted the evergreen. She was terrified about what she might find.

"Oh my. Luna..." Usagi gasped, and her face drained of color until it was a chalky white.


	7. Chapter 6

Nestled in the brush was a small, disheveled child; a toddler, really. But the random appearance of a tiny girl in a thicket, in the middle of the woods, was not as unsettling as her very familiar features.

"Luna... I think it's Chibi-Usa," Usagi breathed. She bent over and laid a gentle hand on the aforementioned toddler's slack countenance, caked in dirt and what the two onlookers feared was blood. They watched as Chibi-Usa's eyelids seemed to flutter like restless butterflies while the girl slowly came to. The sluggish revelation of bright but confused ruby depths only confirmed what Usagi had suspected -

She was staring into the face of her future daughter... albeit in the form of a youngster just out of babyhood.

"Good Lord, what's happened to her?" Luna wondered aloud.

Chibi-Usa blinked up at them, eyes flicking between Usagi and Luna. Her lower lip quivered dangerously.

"Something sliced her cheek!" Usagi gasped, still in the process of stunned examination. She inched closer for a better look. "I can't tell if it's deep-"

The blonde was interrupted by a sudden wail from the child.

"MAMA!" Chibi-Usa's pudgy little arms leapt up almost of their own volition in response to Usagi's voice, fingers waggling and grappling at the air. Usagi froze.  _Mama_? Chibi-Usa thought she was... But surely Neo-Queen Serenity did not expect her to...?

Chibi-Usa began making little whiny mewling noises when, a few seconds later, Usagi had yet to move. A terrible possibility gripped her. What if something had gone horribly wrong in Crystal Tokyo? They would have no way of knowing, and no way to initiate contact with their future selves without the help of Pluto. As it was, the Inner Senshi had not heard anything from the Outers since defeating Galaxia almost a full year ago. Unless Chibi-Usa had a time key handy on her person - and it was quite clear she didn't - the child was stuck in this time period.

 _But at least she's safe_ , Usagi's mind supplied reassuringly.  _Or... is she?_ Usagi shivered. They did not know the circumstances surrounding Chibi-Usa's unexpected and strange arrival. Nor had the feeling of foreboding - of danger lurking just around the corner - ceased niggling in the pit of her gut yet.

"Luna, we have to get out of here. Our first priority is to get Chibi-Usa somewhere safe... and warm," Usagi said firmly, sweeping the toddler in dire need of a bath into her arms. Chibi-Usa's whimpering calmed when her mother pulled her close, head dropping to rest on Usagi's shoulder. As the trio made their way out of the dark woodland and quickly stole across the uncomfortably open park area, Usagi felt Chibi-Usa yawn against her neck. She started at a sudden rush of maternal protectiveness, unnerved and elated by how natural the act of carrying her baby daughter was. Chibi Chibi was one thing, but this... this was different.  _Good_  different, but scary all the same.

"Luna," Usagi huffed, slowing as they neared the suburbs. She walked a little easier now, knowing they'd left fear and uncertainty a few miles back and were now entering familiar territory. It was getting harder to pinpoint a potential threat, and this cloudiness in the heroine's sixth sense was more reassuring than not at the moment. "What am I supposed to do? Mama will freak if she thinks I'm bringing in stray babies. It was hard enough adopting you-"

"There's also the issue that the 'stray baby' calls you 'Mama' and bears an uncanny family resemblance..." Luna sighed. She jerked her head this way and that before crossing the street. "Without the aid of Luna P, I fear your parents will not fall for the 'cousin' ruse again. But I also don't want to blow your cover if we can avoid it."

Usagi was silent, mulling the situation over, so the cat continued on, "The temple is closest. I hate barging in on Rei-chan at his hour, but perhaps she can make sense of Chibi-Usa-chan's condition with a fire reading. There is always the chance something merely went wrong during time travel, causing her body to regress. It is after all a perilous journey, and there are many risks involved."

Usagi gazed down at Chibi-Usa, currently snoring into her ear and disfigured by deep scratches. "I don't think this was an accident," she intoned softly.

"Neither do I," Luna admitted, but as she began to trot ahead the feline called back, "Whatever the case, we need to get a move on. It's getting late." Usagi worried her bottom lip as she tucked Chibi-Usa closer and followed Luna to Hikawa Shrine.

oOo

Chibi-Usa began stirring just as Usagi and Luna vaulted the last few steps leading into the shrine's courtyard. They stopped on the final stone stair as Usagi laid a warm palm over the pink-haired child's face.

"Shh. Keep sleeping. You need the rest."

As if compelled into compliance by the hypnotically calm quality of Usagi's voice, Chibi-Usa stilled her wakeful rustling. Usagi softly hummed the first strains of a made-up ditty, only to catch Luna watching on with a strange smile out of the corner of her eye.

"What?" she pressed, craning her neck to decipher the odd expression through the minute luminescence the moon provided.

"Nothing," Luna said simply, shaking her head and sidling off toward the ancient arches of the looming sanctuary's entryway.

Usagi hastened to remain in the feline's shadow, frowning peevishly. "You're amused."

"A little."

"Are you making fun of me?" Usagi asked loudly, pouting at the cat's rear. She saw Luna's tail twitch instinctively and pursed her lips. "You  _are_!"

"I have better things to do than mock my charge when she displays an unanticipated burst of maturity," Luna groused under her breath. "Though I am seriously reconsidering my initial pride in favor of such a pastime given your current petulance."

"Luna, I can't believe you're going to... hey, wait, are you paying me a compliment?"

"As subtly as a jackhammer," Luna quipped, pouncing into the sacred Shinto fire room when Usagi pulled the panel open. "Well, Rei-chan's not here."

"What if she's already asleep?"

"What other choice do we have right now, Usagi-chan?"

"I'm just foreseeing one very grumpy priestess deciding to use one very flea-ridden broom on one very innocent bearer of bad news."

"Don't tell me you're scared," Luna leered, a smirk playing about the corners of her mouth.

"Scared? No. Disturbed by the possibility of flea transmission? Just a bit." Usagi shifted Chibi-Usa to her other hip, starting to feel the onset of muscle fatigue. "But I'm sure Rei-chan will understand our predicament. C'mon, this kid's not getting any lighter. Let's just get the hard part over with."

"That's my girl," Luna grinned genuinely when Usagi took the lead this time. The pair coasted like ghosts across the wooden floor, half-expecting the eccentric Grandpa Hino or Rei's housemate slash friendly stalker Kumada Yuuichiro to pop out from some dark crevice and reprimand them for visiting so late. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the temple's hallways were deathly quiet to the point of spookiness. Every abnormal creak of the floorboards sent Usagi jumping a good foot into the air. She found herself incredibly glad when Rei's bedroom came into sight, lamplight pouring out from underneath the door and pooling in a semi-circle around the frame. The blonde and her companion took deep, steadying breaths before Usagi prompted her knuckles into a nervous knock.

The door flew open almost immediately into the angry countenance of Rei Hino. "Yuuichiro, I swear, if this is about the freaking 'draft' in your bathroom again...  _Usagi_?"

"Erm, hi?"

Rei's mouth slipped open as, slack-jawed, she looked from baby Chibi-Usa to Usagi and back again. "Please do  _not_  tell me this is what I think it is."

Usagi had the grace to look sheepish before mumbling, "Can I come in or are you going to stare some more first?"


	8. Chapter 7

Rei sank weak-kneed onto her bed, staring at the small child nestled in her best friend's arms with something akin to disbelief on her features.

"So you just found her in the bushes? Exactly like that?"

Usagi nodded for what seemed the umpteenth time. "Luna thinks maybe Chibi-Usa had some sort of accident while attempting to cross the Corridor to visit us. I'm not so sure - she's got a gash on her face, see here?" The blonde seventeen-year-old shifted her future daughter so Rei could get a better look at the deep cut lanced across Chibi-Usa's chubby cheek. "I wonder if maybe Neo-Queen Serenity sent Chibi-Usa to the past to keep her safe. Maybe there's been another attack... or... a first attack? I don't know, this time travel stuff is so confusing to me!"

"Where's Sailor Pluto when you need her?" Rei sighed. She eyed Usagi up and down. "You look exhausted. Why don't you let Chibi-Usa-chan sleep in my bed for a bit? I can prepare the Sacred Fire while you wait for Luna to get back. And maybe once the Senshi arrive, I'll have been able to tease an answer from the flames."

"Thanks, Rei-chan," Usagi said gratefully, easing her slumbering charge underneath the covers. Rei nodded and padded out the door, leaving Usagi alone with Chibi-Usa.

The open window let in cool gusts of fresh night air. Usagi perched herself beside Chibi-Usa, tucking her in all snuggly so the young toddler didn't catch cold. Running soft fingers across Chibi-Usa's delicate round face, it struck Usagi that the little girl was still in dire need of a bath, and perhaps a bandage, though luckily procuring one was not of the essence. She'd had enough personal experience to know peroxide didn't always go over well with children, and that laceration was almost begging to be cleaned. Usagi nibbled her lower lip. This was one of those times when she wished she was smarter. When she wondered,  _how am I ever going to be a good mother to Chibi-Usa if I don't even have basic training in medicine?_ Pushing her insecurities aside, Usagi remembered the Senshi had been called and were on their way. Ami could help. For now, it was probably best that Chibi-Usa rested. There was no telling what the child had just endured, and Usagi of all people knew there was no better escape than in dreamland.

Except, not all dreams were pleasant. Chibi-Usa's eyelids began to spasm frantically, as if she were watching a movie on fast-forward. Usagi frowned as the little one became restless under her cocoon.

"Hey... hey... it's okay. Shh. Keep sleeping, you're okay," the seventeen-year-old whispered, but Chibi-Usa let out a pitiful whine instead. There was a brief second of panic, where Usagi deliberated over what course of action to take next, when a strange feeling of maternal instinct unexpectedly seized hold. Almost without thought, Usagi reached out and laid a comforting hand on Chibi-Usa's chest, beginning to murmur the first few verses of an old lullaby her own mother used to sing. Nightmares had been a constant and unwelcome visitor during Tsukino Usagi's puerile years, and it had only been the sound of Ikuko's warm, trilling tones that calmed away these inner terrors. Maybe, just maybe, it was the same for Neo-Queen Serenity and Small Lady.

" _I see the moon,_

_The moon sees me,_

_Shining through_

_The old oak tree._

_Please let the light_

_Shine down on me,_

_Shine down on the one_

_That I love..._ "

Here, Ikuko had always leant down and kissed Usagi on the nose, giggling, "That's you!". But Usagi was more than a tad embarrassed at the thought of doing so presently. It wasn't that she didn't love Chibi-Usa. She did, very much. But saying so, aloud, had never come easily. Their relationship had always been complicated; sisterly. But this toddler, who now slipped back into unconsciousness with her tiny chest rising and falling beneath Usagi's hand, was a far cry from the annoying tag-along the blonde once played house with. Thrust into a position where Usagi actually felt like Chibi-Usa's  _mother_  and not just a protective older cousin of convenience... well. Suffice to say, it was a very new, mostly frightening transition. What if she failed?

"You won't," a voice assured gently.

Usagi started, azure eyes seeking out the window. Her heart returned to its usual leisurely pace when she realized it was just Luna and Artemis. Then she blushed, a vibrant shade of crimson. "Did I say that out loud? ...Er,  _how long have you two been standing there_?"

"Long enough to discover your singing has improved. Drastically," Artemis praised, a sincere smile spreading his whiskered cheeks apart. "I'm impressed, Usagi-chan."

Aforementioned Odango Atama wasn't sure she could get any redder. "Yeah. Um. I don't like to show it off." She hastened to change subjects. "That didn't take very long. Luna, I thought you said finding Artemis would take the better part of an hour!"

Artemis cocked a brow his feline companion's direction, and Luna had the grace to look sheepish. "Well. Usually he has a tendency to wander aimlessly.  _Usually_."

The white cat rolled his eyes. "Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" One ear twitched. "Oh, Minako-chan and Mako-chan are here. And if I'm not mistaken, Ami-chan's not far behind."

"I've always been jealous of his ability to do that," Luna muttered to Usagi, and the teen giggled.

"I'm going to go join them. Coming, Usagi-chan?" Artemis queried. The blonde glanced over at Luna, who shooed her on.

"Don't worry. I'll stay right here," the ebony-hued guardian assuaged, pouncing up onto the mass of blankets and curling up near Chibi-Usa's ear. The room was filled with her contended purrs, and Usagi had to grin.

No matter the reason, no matter her size, it  _was_  nice to have Chibi-Usa in their midst once more.

oOo

Usagi was embraced into her friends' presence by a barrage of questions. How was Chibi-Usa, where did they find her, did Usagi think this happened for nefarious purposes, was the future under attack, did Chibi-Usa say anything, could they see her, what if she was followed, what was their next step...

Usagi tried to face the firing squad, but it ended up too much. She raised a palm for silence, and instantly they fell mute for their leader.

"Guys. I understand how overwhelming this is - believe me. I know. But the truth is, we're all in the dark here, and until we stumble across something; some clue that points us in the right direction..." The blonde shook her head helplessly. "I'm sorry. But apart from finding Chibi-Usa de-aged in the park, there's nothing to go on. Anyways, she's sleeping now. I think she needs it. Ami-chan, can I talk to you?"

Makoto exchanged a  _"Come on, let's go"_  look with Minako. "Take your time. Usagi-chan, we'll be with Rei-chan. Whenever you're ready, join us, okay?"

"Hopefully after Rei-chan fire reads, we'll get at least a few of our questions answered," Minako agreed, and she left with the brawny brunette. Usagi turned to Ami, her facade of strength and authority crumbling.

"Ami-chan, I'm really worried."

"I know," Ami said sympathetically, patting her friend on the shoulder. "At least Chibi-Usa-chan's safe, yes?"

"Yeah. I suppose that's the silver lining in all this confusion, right?" Usagi mused wryly. "Ami-chan, I was wondering if you could take a peek at Chibi-Usa. It's as if something sharp took a chunk out of her cheek. Considering I barely passed first aid..."

"Ah. You want an experienced eye checking it over. I see," Ami nodded kindly, very much the future doctor. She laughed when Usagi forced a quick hug on her.

"You're the best!"


	9. Chapter 8

"Rin. Pyou. Tou. Sha. Kai. Jin. Retsu. Zai. Zen!"

Rei's fingers danced over the flames with hypnotic power as she chanted herself into a reverberant fever. Her eyes had gone heavy-lidded, and her entire face glowed with an otherworldly shine as the Great Fire writhed and popped before her kneeled figure. Usagi watched the Shinto priestess work with equal amounts apprehension and awe. She hardly noticed as she leaned closer... closer... trying to discern her own answers from out of the crackling pit.

"You," a gentle voice accompanied a firm hand latching itself round her shoulder-bone, "Are about to fall into the grate if you don't watch yourself, girl."

Usagi smiled sheepishly at the brawny brunette on her right. She resettled back into a less flammable position. "Thanks, Mako-chan."

"She's really been at this a while," Minako commented quietly, also shifting, in what was undoubtedly a futile attempt to rouse numerous sleeping appendages on Makoto's other side. Artemis clucked imperiously at her constant fidgeting, but he still possessed enough good humor to quip,

"Well... you know what Rei-chan always says..."

"Can't rush perfection!" Three singsong chuckles resounded. Rei's body then gave an almighty jerk, drawing the attention of all en masse. They stared, stricken, as their friend continued to spasm, her bright obsidian eyes rolling back and her mouth gaping soundlessly. The sight was jarring; the seizure violent.

"Rei-chan!" Usagi gasped, observing in horror as the fire seemed to leap higher, singing tendrils of Rei's beautiful long hair.

And then it was over.

Rei dropped from out of the throes of her vision like a raggedy marionette with strings cut short. She sunk limp and boneless to the floor. Usagi was there almost immediately.

"Rei-chan! Rei-chan, are you alright? Hang in there!"

"Oh my," said a new voice. Usagi looked up to see Ami enter the room, face pulled into an expression of concerned confusion. "Is she-?"

" _She_  is just fine," issued the sardonic reply, from underneath Usagi's arm. Usagi squealed in relief, and she was joined by Ami as the two helped hoist Rei to her feet. The priestess looked breathless for a second, but the wave passed and she was able to continue on in much the same vein with, "Now would you stop panicking already, Usagi?"

"I wasn't panicking!"

"You were a little bit panicking."

"Sooo," Minako cut in, her countenance not even a little bit apologetic. "Don't tell me that freak show was all for nothing. What did you see?"

Rei shot Minako churlish glare, but the self-proclaimed Goddess of Love and Beauty just chortled and blew a rather waggishly sweet kiss back. With the mood sufficiently lightened, Usagi again grasped Rei's arm and led her to the bench, Senshi following in their wake. They all gathered around the Shinto priestess. Rei just sat there for a long moment, seeming to mull over her thoughts. When she resurfaced from reverie, she appeared almost... rattled.

"I didn't receive a clear line of imagery - the premonition came mostly in snippets, and nothing I saw could I directly attribute to Chibi-Usa-chan's strange new state.

"I was in... a cold place. A cold place with a vast landscape, too vague for me to make out with any distinction. There was the sound of trickling water - from a fountain, I believe. Very ornate with... shimmering shapes within." Here, Rei paused, looking more troubled than before. Her teeth clung to her bottom lip, forging deep marks as they worried the soft flesh. Over and over, over and over. Usagi wanted to tell her to stop, please don't harm yourself. But she knew Rei; she knew this meant her comrade's recent revelation was just the overture to far worse and far greater forebodings. Knew too, that Rei would not find peace until every sordid detail was spoken aloud. So the Odango Atama pressed,

"What else, Rei-chan?"

The raven-haired shrine maiden snapped back to attention. She appeared to be measuring her words carefully, now. "Well, more than that, it was this... this terrible, overwhelming feeling."

"Feeling of what?" Makoto prompted, her gusty undertones layered with a gruff protectiveness.

"Powerlessness."

Rei wrapped her arms around herself, as if to ward off a chill.

" _Loss_." She clenched tightly to the soft white fabric of her robe sleeves, haunted eyes of purpled onyx seeking out Usagi's bright cerulean just for the barest of moments, before she looked quickly elsewhere. It was a reflexive motion no one failed to miss, and with it, implications no one failed to misinterpret.

Usagi frowned. She crouched ever closer, and brushed her fingers over her best friend's taut knuckles, wondering how Rei's heartbeat was managing to pulse so furiously through so tiny a vessel. The room was utterly hushed; the prophetic miko seemingly frozen by some unnameable fear only her mind had glimpsed. It was as if all present were hinging upon their leader's next words, so she chose them well.

"We are Sailor Senshi. We have never been without loss. But we never  _lose_. Because our power, our  _true_  power, comes from the love we share - for each other and for this beautiful planet. And that... is inexhaustible."

Rei stared intensely at the blonde during her heartfelt speech, and upon its conclusion, swallowed hard. Usagi smiled at her, a blinding display of that which she had so fiercely just proclaimed. Then the girl hopped back onto her feet, and nearly sent Rei reeling in her typical hyperkinetic fashion.

"No more brooding! What will come will come, and we will tackle it head on when it does! Ami-chan, what about your examination of Chibi-Usa? Did the computer pick up anything anomalous?"

"Anomalous... that's a big word for our Usagi-chan," Minako murmured, offhand.

"Our baby's growing up!" Makoto lamented, dabbing invisible tears with her invisible hanky.

"Oh, can it, peanut gallery! Ami-chan?"

The aforementioned erudite un-pocketed her mini computer. Usagi hovered as she conducted a quick but fastidious perusal of the results from her scans.

"I don't know if my findings are going to be of any more value than Rei-chan's vision already was," Ami stated in pardon. "The most conclusive thing I can say at this point is that this is definitely Chibi-Usa-chan. Her DNA is a 100% match to Usagi-chan and Mamoru-san."

"As if we had doubts!" Minako guffawed. Usagi ignored her vivacious blonde twin's merciless elbowing, instead turning a pair of deeply worried eyes on Ami.

"She wasn't hurt, was she? Nothing internal?"

The teasing atmosphere instantly vanished, and all assembled listened attentively to their resident doctor-in-training.

"She's a bit banged up - likely from the fall. Superficial bruising; a couple snags from the bramble. The worst of it is the cut on her cheek, but that I treated with some anti-bacterial while she slept. The poor thing must have been through quite an ordeal. She didn't so much as twitch the entire time!"

Usagi breathed an almost imperceptible sigh of relief, nodding her gratitude to Ami for everything she had done. Rei, however, still had questions left unsatisfied.

"Why, though? Why the age regression? Why is she here, now, like this - without so much as a word from anyone in the future?"

"Foul play? Or freak accident?" Makoto chimed in, quizzically tapping an index. Usagi had to admit, glad as she was that all their efforts had confirmed Chibi-Usa to be in no immediate danger, the lack of resolution was still bothering her too.

Ami shook her head, tucking her computer away even as she answered dolefully, "I couldn't glean much beyond what I just told you. I did notice that Chibi-Usa-chan's energy signature seemed... off. For all intents and purposes, she is two-years-old, but it's almost as if her development has been inexplicably... stunted, for lack of a better word. This disruption occurred in a manner that my computer cannot, as yet, recognize. And without a Time Key, or any other viable means of contacting Pluto, we're pretty much left fumbling in the dark on this one. So until then..."

"Baby Chibi-Usa-chan is here to stay," Minako intoned, the voice of finality. A beat, and then there was the collective shuffling of heads as all turned to face Usagi. She read the myriad of emotions smattered across their features, from sympathy all the way to unabashed excitement and glee.

The princess reincarnate gulped. Why did Minako's proclamation all of a sudden sound like the click of a lock; the bong of a gavel?

She wasn't scared. She could do this. She cared for Chibi Chibi just fine, didn't she?

As if preternaturally aware of the discussions being held in her name, a toddler's cry started up from the bedroom down the hall.

"Mama! Mamaaaa! Maaaa _maaaaa_!"

Granted, Chibi Chibi had not exactly been your average two-year-old, had she, Usagi recalled wryly. The 'not-quite human' bit aside, Chibi Chibi had performed admirably as the youngest Sailor in Senshi history, even with her self-imposed height and speech deficiencies.

 _This_  two-year-old wouldn't know a Phage if it bopped her right on the crown. She was a baby, plain and simple. Helpless and in constant reliance upon the adults in her life.

Or  _adult_ , as it were.

 _Me. Mama. **I'm**  Mama, _Usagi thought, still trying to quell the thrill of fear and warmth that one moniker wrought.

"Er. Guess that's my cue." Usagi moved for the door, but pivoted around again just shy of the threshold. "Oh, um, Rei-chan... do you think I could I use your tub for a bit?"

Rei grinned, a welcome change on her face that had only, just moments previous, housed a maudlin shadow. But Usagi was knees deep in what she could only assume was the beginning of her many motherly duties, and she did not see, after receiving her requested affirmation, that the shadow returned. Nor did she hear, quick as she was go tend her bleating daughter, that Rei called another meeting. One that opened with a shaky,

"There's something I didn't tell you."

oOo

"I wish Mamo-chan were here."

"I wish he were too, so maybe you'd quit whining that so incessantly," Luna snarked, but she was swiftly chastened by a nasty glare and Usagi's "I don't need this right now, Luna!"

The fair-headed teen sighed, dropping her forehead into her hands and massaging the aching synapses. "Sorry for snapping. I'm just stressed. Really, really stressed."

In front of her, the very picture of a cherubic angel, Chibi-Usa was splashing happily away inside the careful confines of Rei's small tub. The room echoed with the sounds of her ebullient laughter, and anyone who stumbled upon this charmingly idyllic family scene would never have guessed that the child had, in fact, just spent the better part of ten minutes screaming bloody murder.

 _Because God forbid she wash her hair with shampoo like any other normal human being, right?_ Usagi groused, seriously considering throwing her own ten minute crying jag at this point.

Luna seemed to sense that her charge was teetering precariously on the verge of breakdown, years of training having honed their interpersonal relations with each other. The cat (generally) knew when to put up, and when to shut up.

"That is quite understandable. But you know, Usagi-chan..." Luna leapt up onto the seventeen-year-old's lap, gazing with sincere intensity into the endless azure depths. "You should learn to be more self-sufficient. Mamoru-san isn't always going to be around to lend a helping hand. And these skills you are acquiring, they will be  _very_  valuable in another five years or so."

Usagi was quiescent - contemplatively so. It was for this reason that she felt completely taken aback when Luna luridly tacked on,

"Sooner, if you continue the habit of sneaking off for nighttime trysts with your virile young boyfriend."

Usagi went hot all over, her cheeks a perfect match to her future progeny's hair.

"You knew!?" she squeaked, wondering whether it might be possible to sink beneath the earth and never return.

"Of course I knew!" Luna scoffed, as if affronted at the very suggestion she might not. "Barring the fact that I overheard your mother informing your father you were staying the night at Mako-chan's - a prevarication if I ever heard one, given Mamoru-san's impending departure - I  _know_  you, Usagi-chan. We've lived side by side for near on four years now. I know when something life changing rocks your world, and I know when you're attempting (miserably, might I add) to act secretive around me. You've been sore for days. You smile goofily and daze out numerous times a day, as if reliving a particularly fond memory. And your father might believe you had 'a klutz attack with a vacuum cleaner', but I can identify the telltale signs of a hickey when I see one!"

"You're annoyingly perceptive, aren't you," Usagi mumbled, still a resplendent shade of crimson.

"I do try," Luna smirked, her tail flicking sharply.

"You're also annoyingly accurate - as always," Usagi admitted with a sigh. "I  _should_  learn to do more things myself. I'm going to be Queen one day. The entire world is going to look to me for guidance."

She reached out for a bar of soap, then gingerly began to lather Chibi-Usa's belly. The small girl erupted in hysterics, eliciting delighted smiles from both her caregivers. Usagi was then inspired to flick at a bubble until it popped, and she watched with even greater entertainment as Chibi-Usa, positively mesmerized, proceeded to attempt the same.

"Not as much as she will," Luna said, softly.

Usagi paused in her ministrations. She was quiet for a moment; utterly statue-like. But then a blue fire ignited in her eyes, and she sat up stiff. Fingers wrapped around the cold marble edge of the tub, a new and emboldened Usagi took a deep breath. "I don't know what dangers are heading our way. I don't know what's happening in Crystal Tokyo; why Chibi-Usa is here and not with her parents. But I do know this - I will protect her, in Neo-Queen Serenity's stead. I will keep her the safest she possibly can be, on my honor as a Senshi and on my life as her future mother. But to do that... I'm going to have to break a few taboos."

Usagi glanced at Luna, who quirked a lofty brow.

"I have to tell my parents who I really am. I'm going to reveal to them my true identity."


	10. Chapter 9

It seemed to take light years for Luna to close her gaping maw.

"Usagi-chan... are you sure that's wise? You could be putting them in terrible danger! The enemy will not hesitate to use any means possible to find out your civilian identity. If word ever got out..."

"My family is not a liability," Usagi countered firmly. "They would never do that to me. Not even Shingo."

Luna still didn't look convinced, but Usagi was not willing to budge.

"You said it yourself just this evening. Mama won't let me past the front door without a damn good explanation as to why I came home with a random baby in tow, insisting on taking it in. Mamo-chan isn't here, and I refuse to foist her off on any of the girls. Chibi-Usa is  _my_  responsibility. My ward. What other choice do I have?" Usagi turned to Chibi-Usa, reaching out a delicate hand to run down the child's unbruised cheek. Her eyes went soft, soft as her next words. "I have to be able to protect my daughter."

"I certainly can't fault that logic," Luna conceded with a sigh. "But let the records state, I think this is a very bad idea."

"They deserve to know. It's beyond time," Usagi asserted, fiercely, as she thought about the last conversation exchanged with her mother, and the associated guilt that weighed like a millstone round her neck. Yes, she definitely wanted this. Had since the moment she first raised the Moon Prism brooch, and shouted the phrase that irrevocably altered her life.

She used to hate her power, and constantly yearned for a normal life; the bliss of ignorant youth. But the years had matured her, and now Usagi embraced Senshihood. Just let the enemy try to touch her family. Those by blood  _and_  those by pure unition of love. _I will keep them safe. I will keep everyone_   _safe!_

At that moment, Chibi-Usa let out an ear-shattering howl. Usagi started, feeling Luna do the same beside her. "What's wrong, Chibi-Usa?"

The tiny pink-haired child looked bemused for the briefest of moments, but it didn't take her long to resume caterwauling. "Out! Out! Lady wan' OUT!"

"Lady?" Usagi murmured, half to herself.

"Lady... as in, Small. Small Lady," Luna nudged, and Usagi understood immediately with a chagrined, "Ah."

Cataloged in the back of her mind, Usagi knew 'Small Lady' to be the preferred moniker of Neo-Queen Serenity for her first and only daughter. It was more than just a cutesy nickname; it was a royal title, bursting with all the responsibility to come. But when she tried to say the name, the words curdled in her mouth, and Usagi couldn't speak them. She felt... wrong, using such a formal tone with this barely two-year-old tot. She was not Neo-Queen Serenity. She was not molding a future monarch... yet. She was simply caring - temporarily - for an old friend in a younger form. A friend who had never been anything other than 'Chibi-Usa' (and okay, occasionally 'That Insufferable Brat'). When it came down to it, the odango-headed blonde realized she would be incapable of change, at least in this instance. Small Lady was just going to have to get used to her new designation!

"Alright, Chibi-Usa. Hold still." Usagi reached in to pluck the pint-sized princess out of her slippery marble throne, bearing no concern over the way the water lapped at her arms, or how Chibi-Usa splashed madly like a goldfish out of the bowl. She had come to grips - basically at the onset of this bathtime adventure - that there was no chance in hell she'd escape unsaturated. In fact, she probably looked like she'd gone for a full-bodied dip as well. "Into the towel - that's a good girl! Brr, it's a little chilly, isn't it? Come here."

Usagi gathered the lightly shivering girl close, alternately patting her dry and rubbing warmth into her goosebump-flecked skin. Chibi-Usa yawned, placing stubby little arms around Usagi's neck. The seventeen year old chuckled at how quickly she was losing her future progeny.

"Are you sleepy, Chibi-Usa? You had an exciting night, I know. I would want to nap too."

"Like mother like daughter," Luna quipped under her breath.

"Pay no attention to the help, or should I say lack thereof," Usagi teased. "Couldn't you drain the tub for me or something? My hands are a little full!"

"No opposable thumbs! Sorry!" Luna sniggered, waggling her furry black paws to and fro. "I'm always good for comedic relief, though!"

"And nagging me worse than my mother," Usagi deadpanned, her laugh dying abruptly as she felt a sudden jolt, and remembered what she was about to do. "Luna... do you think Mama will believe me? Do you think she and Papa will understand  _why_  I take the risks I do? Will they accept that I'm not  _just_  their daughter? And will... will they still..."

"Will they still love you?" Luna filled in the blanks, and her incarnadine colored eyes became incredibly gentle as she nuzzled against Usagi's knee. "Oh Usagi-chan. Don't you worry about that. I rather think that when your parents discover your secret identity, they will experience a complete paradigm shift. Do you know what that is?"

"Not really," Usagi shrugged, easing Chibi-Usa into oversized pajamas, courtesy of Rei. They were leftovers from a sleepover past, and a Chibi-Usa who would have loathed to be treated as such. Usagi smiled at that, as she worked on rolling up all legs and sleeves so the miniscule toddler wouldn't drown inside her own clothes.

"It means," Luna explained patiently, "That they will see you in an entirely new light. That they will hear of your great deeds and thus learn the true depth of your strength; the true gains in your maturity; the true goodness of your soul. They will see what I see. And they will be so proud, as proud as I am, and they will love you all the  _more_  for it... Usagi-chan."

Usagi paused in her ministrations, gazing teary-eyed down at her beloved feline guardian. "Luna..."

Luna quirked her lips into a Cheshire grin. "Guess I'm good for the pep talks, too. Even if you'll never admit it out loud."

Usagi snorted, though it sounded more like a poorly suppressed sniffle. She leaned over, catching Luna under the chin. The cat purred as Usagi scratched in just the right spot. "What do you know, Chibi-Usa... maybe the help is good for something after all. Now. Let's see if she knows where to find a bandaid for that cheek, hmm?"

oOo

"Alright there, Usagi-chan?"

Usagi turned, sucking in deep breaths of the zephyrous night air to steady her erratically thrumming heart. She was standing on the steps of the Tsukino's front stoop, thronged by her Senshi and the two cats as they stood by for moral support. Lamplight pooled around them in a halo, originating from numerous windows inside the house. Clearly, one or all members were still awake, and actively awaiting Usagi's return. She smiled weakly at Makoto.

"Anyone got a doggy bag handy?"

Minako made a show of scavenging through her pockets. "Dammit. Fresh out!"

Usagi laughed, needing the levity. She guided her precious cargo into Makoto's strong arms, and stepped back, said cargo having made the transfer without so much as a whimper.  _The kid really must be pooped. Or... simply her mother's daughter_ , Usagi thought with fond reflection. She inhaled again for sake of composure.

"It would probably be best if you guys waited outside. Just until the ah, storm blows over."

"One shock at a time," Minako agreed, with a droll sort of chuckle.

"Good luck, Usagi-chan," Ami wished, squeezing her friend's hand.

"You can do this," Rei buoyed, with a heartfelt nod of faith.

Usagi smiled at them all, begging her knees not to flag. Luna's words of conviction rang through her ears and she clung to the peace they promised.  _They will love you all the more..._  The teen swiveled slowly, willing her shaking fingers toward the glowing golden knob. She slipped into the house like sand through a current; a proverbial sea of uncertainty from which she could only hope she would emerge exultant. Still - stealthy as she was, the seasoned Senshi was no match for Hurricane Ikuko.

"TSUKINO USAGI!"

Usagi cringed. The full name - never a reassuring sign! She bit her lower lip and pushed back against the door once more for good measure, ensuring it was securely closed, and hoping to God her friends were only getting muffled playback.

"I'm home," the flaxen haired princess reincarnate announced, ever so timidly. Ikuko rounded the corner, all blustering rage and brandished dishtowel. Her normally genteel eyes now crackled blue hellfire. Usagi gulped.

"YOUNG LADY!  _WHERE_  HAVE YOU BEEN?"

"I- I went for a walk just like I said-" Usagi stuttered, cursing the way her brain went torpid and dumb, as it always did in front of the one-woman firing squad. This was not how she intended to broach the subject of her duplicitous other life, but the extent of her mother's fury rattled her. Ikuko was often annoyed with her daughter over this failed test or that petulant tantrum, but she never reacted this apoplectically.

"FIFTEEN MINUTES!  _FIFTEEN MINUTES_  YOU TOLD ME, AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?  _TEN P.M._! NO NOTE, NO TELEPHONE CALL... YOUR FATHER AND I HAVE BEEN WORRIED  _SICK_!  _AGAIN_!"

Usagi observed in horror as Ikuko's voice stumbled over the last, and her enraged eyes filled with frustrated tears. "Mama..."

"No. No more of this, Usagi. No more..."

Ikuko's shoulders trembled like the weight of the world were on them, but it was Usagi who felt the crushing force in a non-visible yet no less indomitable way.

 _She hadn't realized_.

She hadn't realized just how deeply her mother's hurt had run; the pent up dissension that existed now between them as a result of her frequent and unexplained delinquencies. But she should have. She was a mother herself, sort of, and during those tastes of maternal role-play she too had encountered her fair share of fretfulness, fear, and heartache. She knew what it was to stress over her child's whereabouts; to worry over the safety of her progeny, even when there wasn't always something to worry about. She  _knew_  this. These were not foreign emotions. And yet, somehow, Usagi had failed to recognize that these attributes were just as applicable - more so, really - to Tsukino Ikuko. That her mother was suffering greatly as a result of her well-intentioned deceit. But she should've, she should've,  _she should've_.

It was time to make that right.

Usagi took a tentative step forward, as if she were approaching a very skittish colt.

"You're right," she said softly, locking gaze with her overwrought accoster. "No more."

Ikuko blinked, and her countenance morphed into one of vague befuddlement.

"Please get Papa and Shingo, and meet me in the living room. There's something I need to tell all of you."


	11. Chapter 10

Usagi's nerve was just about shot by the time all household inhabitants were gathered in the living room. Shingo, Kenji and Ikuko sat side-by-side on the couch, with Usagi perched apprehensively upon the ottoman that she had pulled center stage, right in front of the television. It was nothing short of pure unadulterated terror to have so many different and expectant sets of eyes on her, and she wondered for perhaps the umpteenth time what reaction her news would garner. Those eyes - so kindly, comforting, and familiar - what would they forecast, once she was through?

Unbidden, a sudden image of her family leering at her with cold, unrecognizing eyes flashed across Usagi's vision, and she shivered.

 _No. Remember Luna_ , Usagi chided herself, and she thought about the words that had become a soothing sort of mantra for her.  _They'll love you all the more!_

"Uuuggghhh. Do we really have to do this? I was just about to beat the last level on my game! And Mika-chan could be calling any minute!"

"Shingo," Ikuko scolded sternly, wagging an imperious finger at her whining son. "Don't be rude. Usagi has something important to tell us. Don't you, dear?"

Kenji shifted uneasily in his seat, before he too was reprimanded in only one look. "Ah, Usagi... sweetheart... you know we'll support you no matter what... but if there's a boy Papa needs to  _attend_ to..."

"This isn't about a boy!" Usagi exclaimed exasperatedly. "Not... really..."

She sunk back in on herself, still trying to summon her Senshi's courage. She tried to keep in mind that she had faced down worse, defeated greater monsters than her own self-doubt, but it was a near futile endeavor. The girl was petrified. Her family continued to stare at her, waiting, some patiently... and some not at all.

Shingo threw his arms up in the air. "Jeez, c'mon! Spit it out already, sis!"

"I'm... I'm Sailor Moon," Usagi mumbled, to her feet. She could literally  _feel_  the silence that met her declaration, like a heavy pall had descended over the room. No one said anything; no one moved. It was a suffocating sensation, cruel in its indeterminacy, and Usagi clenched her fists against the maelstrom building inside her chest.

"I'm Sailor Moon!" she announced, louder, fiercer, finally lifting her chin to greet her achingly unresponsive audience.

A beat, a hitched breath, and then the room was overcome with the cacophonic sound of hysterical laughter. Kenji and Shingo were nearly falling over each other with the intensity of their mirth, both completely doubled-up and at the point of wiping away tears. If Usagi had been less affronted, she might've seen that while Ikuko was indeed frozen with shell shock, there was also a light dawning in her eyes. Something akin to stunned realization - like pieces of a puzzle had finally clicked into place inside her brain.

"Oh, oh, oh. Good one, Usagi! You really... you really had us going there for a minute," Kenji said inbetween gasps, reaching up to rub behind his glasses. Shingo however had yet to settle, still slapping his knee and howling inconsolably.

"You really think we'd  _believe_  that a crybaby like you could be Sailor Moon!? Stupid Usagi, that was a really dumb joke," Shingo guffawed.

Usagi stood up, a righteous anger and unflinching resolve pulsing through her veins. She flung her broach heavenward.

"MOON ETERNAL, MAKE UP!"

A brilliant display of light and color engulfed the living room, so dazzling, so blinding, that a number of occupants had to shield their eyes. All traces of humor quickly evaporated as the Tsukinos looked upon the angelic figure that now posed before them, her chest heaving and limbs trembling as she awaited their judgment.

"H-h-holy shit," Shingo spluttered. Kenji too seemed at a loss, unable to form even the simplest of locutions. He just gaped, incomprehensible. It was Ikuko who made the first move, literally, as she sprung up off the couch. Usagi's heart just about fled her ribcage, instead assuming residence somewhere closer to throat level as the indigo-haired woman approached.

What was she thinking? Why wasn't she running in fear from this strange alien entity invading her perfectly normal family in this perfectly normal house in the middle of perfectly normal Juuban District? Isn't that how people usually reacted when they learned a secret of this enormity? Wasn't that exactly what Usagi was expecting? The emotionally overwrought savior of the world swallowed painfully.

Ikuko stopped just shy of Eternal Sailor Moon. Her azure eyes were wide and shining as she reached forward to take the girl's face in her hands, one splayed across either cheek. "It's really you in there, isn't it?"

"Yes," Usagi choked, and the lump in her throat was hard to speak around. "I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you for so long."

The seventeen-year-old was taken aback when Ikuko threw her arms around her small frame, and gripped the heroine in a hug so bone-crushing she went light-headed. It was wonderful.

"I had a thought once, or maybe it was a dream. Years ago. The persisting sense that something utterly  _undefinable_  to me had grasped hold of you. Changed you. I didn't know what it was. But I'd wake up sometimes, in a cold sweat, without any rational explanation  _why_. Call it premonition; call it a mother's instinct... But I think I knew, even then, that it was because of you. Knew - without actually believing. I had seen footage of the mysterious warrior everyone was talking about. Read all the headlines.  _Sailor Moon_. 'The Champion of Love and Justice'. And I remember thinking,  _god, she_ _looks so young_. Gutsy, focused, formidable... but so very young. Maybe even around my Usagi's age. And I wondered then, just for a moment... what if?

"I confess... I brushed the notion aside.  _Impossible_ , I laughed. My darling little Usagi, afraid of thunderstorms and dentists and all forms of responsibility, out there fighting monsters and saving the world on a daily basis? It was ridiculous."

Ikuko pulled back, and she had the grace to look sheepish. Regretful. She squeezed Usagi's upper arms. "So you see,  _I'm_  the one who should be sorry. You have been so much wiser, braver, and more responsible than I ever gave you credit for, Usagi. You grew up - and I didn't even realize it!"

The Tsukino matriarch shook her head and chuckled with rueful affection.

"My baby.  _My baby_  is Sailor Moon. I just..." Ikuko's eyes began to spill over as she continued rambling in disbelief, and Usagi marveled, through a joyous haze, that she was crying too. This whole moment just felt so surreal; like a wish so long and dearly desired was suddenly coming true. Her parents knew. They  _finally knew_ , and they still loved her. She found herself ensconced once more in Ikuko's arms. "I'm so proud. So, so proud."

"Your mother's not the only one," another voice, gruff with emotion, chimed in. Usagi opened her eyes, hardly aware she'd let them flutter shut, to see her father standing by. He still looked mildly ill, but there was an awestruck smile burgeoning across his countenance.

"Papa..."

"Here I was, worried you were dragging us all together to tell us you were pregnant - and instead you drop  _this_  bomb on us. I'm not sure which is worse for my poor heart!" Kenji teased weakly. "You do realize I'm sorely tempted never to let you leave the house ever again, right?"

Usagi hailed him with a watery laugh, but her features grew solemn as she extricated herself from Ikuko. She took her mother's hand in one of hers, and her father's hand in the other. "I understand what a shock this is."

"That's an understatement," the youngest voice in the room snorted. "My friends would never believe me."

Usagi glanced sharply at Shingo, still sitting dumbly on the couch, still whiter than the freshly laundered sheets on her bed upstairs. Her tone was harsh, brooking no argument. "You can't tell anyone. Not  _ever_. Shingo, please. You must listen to me. It's not just about my safety. It's a matter of  _everyone's_  safety. Yours, your friends', my friends'... Mama's and Papa's..."

Shingo flushed.

"I didn't mean I would," he mumbled, apparently finding it easier to make eye contact with his knees rather than Usagi. She felt her gaze soften, taking pity on him, knowing how strange, how jarring, it must be, to witness his ditzy sister's transformation into the hero he idolized. The boy remained quiet after that, so Usagi let her attention rove back to those still in her grip. She squeezed their hands, wishing the pair would quit looking so stricken.

"Hey now. No need to look like someone just died. I'm still here, aren't I? Yes, what I do is dangerous. But I've been battling evil for a long time now. I know how to handle myself. I'm quite careful. I wouldn't reveal myself unnecessarily. It's just..." She sucked down a deep breath. "Certain circumstances have forced my hand."

"I guess that begs the question... why now?" Ikuko queried gently.

Usagi closed her eyes and let the winged garb of Eternal Sailor Moon fade away, to be replaced again by her infinitely less flashy civilian clothes. She nervously smoothed out the obstinate crinkles of her skirt, peeking over at Shingo and hoping he felt more comfortable this way. It was uncharacteristic for the fourteen-year-old to be so chary. It made Usagi rather disconcerted. She wondered what was going on inside his head right now.

"Well... to tell you that, I have to tell you a lot of other things first. Context," Usagi clarified, with a slight upturn of the lips. She amusedly allowed Ikuko to claim her hand once more. It was as if the woman couldn't bear to let go; as if she would have begun to doubt the reality of the situation unless her daughter's warmth intermingled reassuringly with her own. Usagi was led back to the couch, where Ikuko insisted she join the family - where she belonged. Usagi felt lighter than she had all night. All week, really.

Kenji himself lugged over the ottoman and plopped down upon it, as close to Usagi and the others as physically possible. He leaned forward, a distinctly mischievous twinkle in his dark charcoal eyes. It reminded Usagi of someone else. Someone currently napping outside. "Why do I feel like I'm going to need a good stiff drink when this is all through?"

oOo

A raised hand split the air, halting a voice mid-sentence.

"Wait, wait, wait. Let me make sure I've got this straight. So you're saying... you're the... reincarnation?... of an ancient princess who lived on the moon."

"Yes."

"And Mamoru-san was the earth prince Endymion, who sacrificed himself for you - er - Serenity when the kingdom fell. The, er, Golden Millennium?"

" _Silver_ , Papa. But yeah."

"And your friends, those girls you hang out with, they were - are - your protectors? The other Sailor Senshi?"

"There are more Senshi besides Rei-chan, Ami-chan, Minako-chan and Mako-chan. But yes. Pretty much."

"And Luna... your cat... is your adviser? A talking cat who told you you were Sailor Moon, and gave you your broach, which grants you the ability to transform into said superhero?"

Usagi nodded vigorously. It was as if her mood had performed a complete 180; she couldn't help but feel absurdly cheery.  _They knew!_

Kenji, however, pinched the bridge of his nose. Hard. "Oh boy. I'm definitely going to want that drink."

On Usagi's right, Ikuko issued a strained chuckle. "It is rather outlandish sounding when you lay the facts out in black and white like that, isn't it? And yet... look what we just witnessed - the proof, right before our very eyes."

Ikuko inclined her head toward the broach Usagi was currently fiddling with in her lap. "Do you think... Could I touch it, Usagi?"

The girl happily passed her transformation broach over, glad for the opportunity to share these important pieces of her life. Her mother reverently accepted the offering, inspecting the ornate handiwork with a delicate finger traced over cool metal ridges. "It's beautiful."

"Might not look it, but that thing's brought me back from the brink more times than I can count," Usagi intoned wryly. Ikuko and Kenji stared at her with wide eyes, then at the broach. It seemed to be fairly thrumming in Ikuko's palm, like a conduit for its master's excess energy... of which Usagi had, well, an excess. She was nearly bouncing in her seat. It was as if the floodgates had burst open - she wanted to tell them everything, everything they had missed these past few years, but she was also wary of frightening them with her information overload. Hence the insatiable, pent up need to move.

"I have a question," Shingo spoke up at last. He looked up through his shaggy blonde fringe at Usagi, something unreadable tainting his features that seemed the very epitome of puberty, torn as they were between the chiseled definition of adulthood and the plump softness of childhood.

"Yes, Shingo?"

Shingo chewed on his words for a moment. "So... if you're this Princess Serenity character from a thousand years ago... does that mean... you're not really my sister?"

A hush followed his pronouncement. Ikuko seemed to clutch the broach ever more tightly, knuckles paling around the compact's shiny golden hue. Kenji went tense on the ottoman, like he was afraid to even breathe for fear of shattering into a hundred tiny, irreparable pieces. Usagi wanted to roll her eyes at the seriousness of them all.

"Of course I am, silly. We came out the same place, didn't we?"

"USAGI!" Ikuko barked, but the flaxen haired teen just giggled mulishly.

"It's true!" She focused more intently upon Shingo, and her gaze gentled. "I can't say I'm familiar with the scientific rationale behind it. That's Ami-chan's forte. But I am just as much a being of Earth as I am a descendant of the Moon. As much Serenity as I am Usagi. The same blood that runs through your veins runs through mine. Doesn't that make us family?"

Shingo seemed to deliberate on that for a second or two, and then he nodded, apparently satisfied.

"Now. Speaking of family... I think we've come to the crux of the matter. The real reason why I chose to reveal my identity to you all tonight." Usagi raked her brilliant blue orbs over the group before her. "I think it's time I brought the girls inside. I'm... afraid the shocks aren't over, quite yet."

Ikuko and Kenji had been regarding their daughter with varying shades of curiosity, but at that announcement, they began to look just a little bit faint.

"What else could there be?"


	12. Chapter 11

_"What else could there be?"_

Usagi spared a sympathetic glance her family's way. They didn't even know the half of it! Still - the effervescent blonde was not overly panicked, not anymore. Her greatest secret had been laid bare, coaxed out into the open... what was one time-travelling toddler in comparison? Usagi whipped out her wrist communicator and keyed in 'Call All'.

"Everyone. You can come on in now."

There was a moment's repose, then Ami's voice, tinny and distorted, issued over the speaker.

"10-4, Usagi-chan. We'll be right in."

Usagi snapped the clasp shut, catching her parents' furrowed brow lines and accurately deciphering their meaning. She tapped the pink lid. "Luna and Artemis' design. Very useful for keeping in touch with the others."

Kenji rubbed his temple. "The 'talking cats' bit is still gonna take some getting used to."

"Would you feel more comfortable if I asked them to wait outside?" Usagi offered with genuine sincerity lacing her tone. Kenji scoffed, gesticulating placatingly.

"Nonsense. They're gonna talk whether I witness it or not. Better to just face the music now, eh?"

Usagi chuckled. "If it helps, I almost don't even think of them as cats. More like... teachers with fur. Senshi with fangs. Our smallest friends with the biggest sass!"

"She jests," a new voice broke in, adopting an air of affectionate amusement. Usagi beamed as her feline compatriot trotted into the room, leading with her a tentative crew of Inner Senshi and their still slumbering charge. "I'm really not as acclaimed as all that."

Usagi huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Luna! Don't sell yourself short! You are one of the most valuable assets on our team. You're the  _founding member_!"

On Luna's left, Artemis bristled with an obdurate indignation.

"Heeeeyyyy. Who was off galavanting all around London with a greenhorn Sailor V way before any of you lot knew what a youma even was?" He cocked his head toward the gaping Tsukinos, a couple whiskers twitching. "Er, hello. I'm Artemis, by the way."

Shingo alone seemed taken aback not by the cat introducing himself so matter-of-fact, but by a salacious passing detail. "S-Sailor V? Here?"

His grey-blue eyes, like clouds through a winter sky, scanned the ragtag group before them. Minako was immediately lionized - never one to shirk the spotlight, she flounced forward and gave a self-aggrandizing little bow.

"The original!" she chirruped, flashing a smile and two fingers over one eye; the trademark 'Sailor V' sign. The surrounding Senshi rolled their eyes.

"Minako-san is Sailor V too?" Shingo said in a strangled voice. The aforementioned guardian of love and beauty winked roguishly at him. Rei went and hip-checked her.

"Minako-chan! Stop being such a show-off."

"I'm not a show-off!"

"Oh yeah? Who's flirting with Usagi's baby brother?"

"That was  _hardly_  flirting!"

"Makoto-san," Ikuko inserted loudly, over the din of the two sparring viragos. "Who's the little one? Your cousin?"

"Ahh - actually..." Makoto tripped over her words with a brilliant blush spread across her countenance, but she was saved the trouble of a hasty prevarication when Chibi-Usa chose that particular moment to resurface. Roused undoubtedly due to the increase in volume around her, the tiny pink-haired tot was most decidedly  _not_  a happy camper.

"No. Down! Not you. Not you," Chibi-Usa whined, struggling in the brawny brunette's grip. Her groggy, ruby-hued eyes made quick work of the room, seeking the woman whose arms were far more familiar to her. She spotted her in an instant. The triumphant squeal that followed was near ear-shattering.

"MAMA!"

Chibi-Usa fought until Makoto's hold on her was relinquished, and once she was floor-bound, went off like a rocket. Her mad dash didn't stop until she was wrapped tightly around Usagi's knees. Usagi looked at her parents with a strained smile and an apologetic shrug.

Ikuko, Kenji, and Shingo's expressions were almost comical. They had identical popped jaws, mouths so wide a fist could have comfortably slipped by. As it was, Ikuko's fingers looked liable to get eaten clean off, the way she was frantically worrying her lips. She and Kenji stood slowly, to get a closer look at this new arrival.

"Usagi? What- what is the meaning of this...?" the Tsukino matriarch whispered, gaze flicking between Chibi-Usa to Usagi and back again, no doubt beginning to notice the definite similarities. This Chibi-Usa didn't yet resemble her mother quite as strongly as she would in later childhood, but even through the baby fat, there was no denying:

This girl was a Tsukino.

"There's no delicate way to put this, is there?" Usagi sighed, bending over and collecting up the child who was currently demanding, with upraised arms, "Up, up, Lady up, Mama!"

She straightened, and placed the toddler against her in such a way that her features were on full display. One arm seatbelted the two-year-old's soft tummy, the other supported the crooks of her knees.

"One of our Senshi, Sailor Pluto, has a very specific duty. She keeps vigil over the Time Door - a vessel by which time travel is possible. She does not usually allow passage... with one exception.

"Mama, Papa, Shingo... I'd like you to meet mine and Mamo-chan's daughter from the future: Chibi-Usa, short for Usagi, short for Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity." Usagi hesitated for a beat, then stressed, "Daughter from the  _future_. So please don't start planning Mamo-chan's violent demise just yet, kay, Papa?"

Normal human responses had apparently failed Kenji. He simply collapsed back onto the ottoman, staring disbelievingly at Chibi-Usa, who was doing her darndest to act as adorably as possible. She clapped her hands, giggled and waved, nowhere near as discomfited by the Tsukinos' utter motionlessness as Usagi was. The odangoed teen decided to plough ahead with her explanation, if only to fill the awkward accompanying silence.

"I know, I know. It's a lot. I  _promise_ , this is the last shock of the night. But she's really the reason why I'm here now - beseeching you. Something is wrong in the future. She had clearly been in an altercation when I found her, tonight in the park. And not only that, but Chibi-Usa has never visited us this young before. I don't for a second believe it was planned, but we don't have any means of contacting Sailor Pluto for consult. Please... Mama, Papa... you should understand more than anyone. I have to protect her. I have to keep her here, with me - at least for the time being. Until we can get her home safely."

Ikuko and Kenji looked at each other, a myriad of emotions passing between them in the space of seconds. Ikuko was the first to break their connection, swallowing loudly. She turned to Chibi-Usa, and her eyes were once again shining pools of surprise married with joy.

"This is our granddaughter?"

"From the future," Usagi reminded, needlessly.

"Chibi-Usa?"

"Yes." Usagi ran a hand through the little girl's locks, spun like cotton candy, and she relished in the way the child nuzzled into her touch.

"Oh Usagi," Ikuko whimpered, and Usagi watched, alarmed, as her mother pulled a Kenji and toppled bonelessly back onto the navy blue cushions of the couch. Then she grabbed her apron, buried her face, and began to sob vociferously.

"Mama! Are you okay?" the seventeen-year-old exclaimed, and she deftly fielded the coffee table with Chibi-Usa in tow, coming to sit beside Ikuko. She reached out to grasp the woman's shoulder. "Mama...?"

"S-sorry, I'm j-just... these are happy tears," Ikuko elucidated, with a giant sniffle. She emerged the moment Usagi sunk down next to her, greedily soaking in the sight of Chibi-Usa - currently salivating all over the three fingers she'd shoved into her mouth. The two-year-old stared up at her maternal grandmother with big, bright, beguiling eyes. It nearly set Ikuko off a second time. She stroked Chibi-Usa's unbandaged cheek.

"She is a sweetie, isn't she?" Ikuko gushed, in softly awed tones. Kenji made an oddly stifled noise of agreement, and Usagi glanced curiously over to see that he was in the midst of parrying tears as well.

"Papa, not you too!" Usagi moaned, scrubbing at her eyes with an amused chortle. "C'mon guys, you're gonna get me going too... why all the waterworks?"

"Because," Kenji said, with thickly adoring inflection, "It's like looking at you all over again."

"Usagi had the same dimples, didn't she?" Ikuko reminisced, dragging her index over the swells and hollows of Chibi-Usa's perky little countenance.

"Still does," Kenji returned saccharinely, chucking his indulgent daughter under the chin.

"And, she does that too," Shingo snickered, impishly pointing out Chibi-Usa's not-so-covert attempt at nose-picking.

"Shing _ooooooo_!" Usagi growled, torn between sibling retaliation and motherly reprobation as she also inculcated Chibi-Usa, "Hey you - let's not stick things up our nose that don't belong!"

The room dissolved into laughter as Usagi entreated with her mini-me to please take her finger out of her nose. It only grew more hysteric when Chibi-Usa complied, just to plop her newfound treasure directly into a waiting mouth.

"Oh God," the blonde groaned, facepalming. She peeked up through the gaps in her fingers at her parents, smiling at them a little sheepishly. "I know she's not exactly giving the best first impression. But... can she stay? Please?"

Ikuko and Kenji exchanged twin looks of exasperation, but their grins were so exorbitant, they nearly split the sides of their cheeks.

"Oh Usagi. This is our  _granddaughter_  we're talking about, not some stray pup," Ikuko tittered. A tactile woman by nature, she couldn't seem to stop touching Chibi-Usa; her fingers were now carding gently through the fine pink ringlets by the child's right ear. Everything in her movements and facial expression screamed supreme contentment; a deep-seated elation only those who love a child can know. Usagi could read much the same from her father, albeit his in slightly more muted tones. He and Mamoru were a lot alike in that regard - not that Usagi would ever have dared to mention this similitude to either. They were both stoic creatures by habit, chevaliers cut from the same cloth, with steadfast exteriors hiding insides softer than the filling on a pastry. Usagi felt a strange sense of pride for having created - or, going to have created - something that brought her parents such immeasurable and unmitigated joy.

Kenji nodded vigorously. "Honey, as far as we're concerned, this little pumpkin doesn't have to  _ever_  go home."

Usagi breathed a tiny sigh of relief, tension she hardly realized had been pent up inside her now seeping out like water from a sponge. She let her shoulders relax. "Thank you."

Ikuko seemed to remember suddenly that they had guests. The Senshi and their cats had been quietly observing the proceedings, trying to maintain a respective distance until the worst of the shock rolled over. She beamed up at them like a woman converted.

"My, I'm being a terrible hostess, aren't I? Would anyone like some tea?"

There was a flurry of sound and activity as the girls rushed to enter fully and reassure,

"Oh no, no, of course you're not!"

"I'd love some tea, tea would be lovely!"

Ikuko hopped to her feet with renewed aplomb. She clapped her hands together and appraised everyone individually. "Let's see... 1, 2, 3... 7 cups of tea, yes? And a milk for Chibi-Usa?" Her benevolent blues warmed over at the name, and she smiled blindingly at the subject of their conversation. Usagi wondered if her daughter could ever do wrong in Ikuko's eyes, then realized, belatedly, that her mother was still awaiting an answer.

"Er... Yeah, I guess... She's probably hungry too, I have no idea when she would have last ate..."

"Don't you worry, Grandma's gonna get her all fed up, I know just the thing!"

Ikuko bustled away, still sporting the cheeriest expression Usagi could ever recall seeing on her mother's face. Kenji leaned forward, as if to take over where his wife left off.

"So tell me, Usagi..." Here, his visage turned darkly playful - "How many brothers and sisters does this one have, exactly?"

Usagi interpreted the implications correctly, and with a fierce blush demurred, " _Papaaaa_!"

oOo

The Senshi hung about for another half hour or so, munching on Okinawan shortbread and regaling the Tsukinos with tales of their earlier battles. Shingo seemed to be enjoying this recantation the most, his quiet shock morphing into a rapt fascination. Usagi was glad to see it - of the three, it was definitely her brother who had taken the revelation of her alter ego the hardest. She understood how impossibly difficult it must be, to reconcile his ditzy sister with the famous headlining heroine Sailor Moon. She hoped that in this way, he might come to view the other side of her. The girls were careful to edit their stories of any unsavory details, leaving out anything even remotely related to death or injury, and too, anything with the potential to compromise members of their team. It wasn't that they deemed Usagi's family too faint of heart, nor was it that they didn't trust them. But the warriors for love and justice knew, there were some secrets that should remain just that.

Usagi appreciated their efforts. As much as she wanted to give an hours long play-by-play of what her life had been like these past four years, she also didn't want to provide even more fodder for her family's worry over her well-being. She knew it was going to be hard enough getting out the door every day, without also letting it slip that she had already died more than once in the pursuit of world peace. They'd chain her to the bed and never let her outside ever again!

The eleventh hour tolled and Usagi managed to shoo her friends home with the promise that they would reassemble tomorrow afternoon. She thanked the powers that be for the fact that it was Friday - that meant two whole days to rest, recharge, regroup.

...And try to process just how the hell exactly she was supposed to handle a two-year-old up her butt 24/7.

Usagi sighed, looking down at the subject of her musings. Chibi-Usa was curled up against her chest, dozing contentedly as she suckled one thumb, but the odangoed teen had a feeling this cherubic side wouldn't last forever. She meandered into the living room, where Ikuko was tidying up from the night's recreations.

"Where's Papa?"

"Up in the attic. He's getting Shingo's old crib to bring down for Chibi-Usa. We'll set it up in your room before bed."

"Oh. Thank you." Usagi swallowed noisily, gazing up through her bangs at her mother with a bashful sort of intimation. "I'm... really going to need your help.  _Both_  of your help. There's so much I don't know."

Ikuko bestowed a very soft and kindly smile upon her daughter. "Well you're doing a fine job so far. To be honest, it's not about how much you know. That helps, yes, but it doesn't really come until later, even for a 'real' parent. The important thing is just to love them, and the rest you'll learn in time. Until then, your father and I will be here to help in any way you need. Don't ever be afraid to ask."

"That means... everything," Usagi said, emotion clogging her throat. She shifted awkwardly, mentally fumbling for a change in topic; something that maybe wouldn't result in her drowning in a puddle of her own tears. "Man, this kid is heavy after awhile!"

"May I hold her?" Ikuko inquired, and her voice was tinged with so much excitement, Usagi would have felt awful refusing.

"Of course! She can get cranky if she notices it's not me though, as you might have noticed earlier," the blonde chuckled ruefully.

"You were a Mama's girl too," Ikuko put forth fondly. "I'm not at all surprised."

The cobalt-haired matriarch accepted her newly discovered granddaughter with all the reverence of a priest to his deity. She cradled Chibi-Usa's somnolent body close and breathed in the heady scent of her babyhood.

"So strange," she murmured, and Usagi was flummoxed.

"What is?"

Ikuko was hardly listening, so intent was she upon the tiny girl ensconced in her arms. "I almost feel like you and I have met before, little one."

 _You did_ , Usagi thought, sadly. But she did not, could not, say as much to her mother. It was a discussion she and Luna had had, on the way over. Usagi had rallied for Luna to use her mind-melding magic on Ikuko, so that she might remember the precocious pre-teen who once played house with them. But Luna had been fiercely against the idea. She maintained that Ikuko had had her mind toyed with enough; that "blowing the levee", so to speak, had dangerous potential to shake more than just memories loose. In the end, Usagi had, very grudgingly, conceded. Whenever Chibi-Usa visited, she had used advanced thirtieth century technology to perform her brainwash, and not a one of them had even the remotest inkling how Chibi Chibi had gone about performing her own alterations. It was a shaky science, and Usagi really didn't want to gamble with her family's faculties like that. It would be just her luck to accidentally turn them all into drooling vegetables.

Instead, she cleared her throat and gestured toward the stairs. "You'll be okay with her if I go check on Papa?"

Ikuko barely registered the question directed her way, still mesmerized with the babe asleep in her arms. "Huh? Oh! Oh yes. Yes, we're splendid. Aren't we, little one? I'll follow you up shortly, Usagi."

Usagi could feel the corners of her lips quirking. She shook her head. Who knew the key to her mother's perpetual good side was just to bring home a cute baby for her to dote on?

The seventeen-year-old Moon Princess reincarnate turned and began to mount the stairs two by two. She almost ran headlong into Shingo, on his way to the bathroom. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

"U-Usagi! Sorry!"

He started to dart away like a skittish colt, but the aforementioned blonde wasn't going to let him escape that easily. She grabbed at her brother's wrist and held him in place. "Hey. Are we... okay? You've been avoiding me all night!"

Shingo stared at her hand and then up at her concerned visage. Usagi could see the gears working in his head; the multitude of emotions flashing across his face.

"Yeah. I'm just... like you said, it's a lot. I was, well, I  _am_  pretty freaked out. But I'm okay. I just need time."

"Please don't be scared of me."

Shingo scoffed, and Usagi saw shades of her old, bratty sibling returning. "With a mug like that, how couldn't I be?"

They shared twin toothy grins, and all was right with the world. Usagi released her brother's appendage with a grateful squeeze, then floated off to her bedroom with a last,

"Night, stupid!"

She sauntered inside to find Kenji applying the final screws into a wooden crib, mahogany colored and well-worn.

"Hey, I remember that!"

"Do you now?" Kenji swiped at his forehead, looking up at Usagi with a twinkle in his warm grey eyes. "This used to be your crib too, before Shingo. Kind of full circle, don't you think, now that our granddaughter is about to make use of it. Well... future granddaughter. You know what I mean!"

Usagi chortled in commiseration, thinking of how even she still had trouble wrapping her head around the idea, sometimes. "I do know."

Her father put on the finishing touches before coming to join Usagi and admire his handiwork. She wove an arm through his.

"Thank you, Papa. It's perfect."

"Looks like I'm just in time," an effusive voice commented, and the pair pivoted to find Ikuko observing them from the doorway. She brought Chibi-Usa over to the crib and laid her down, taking care to tuck the blankets in all snuggly. Usagi, struck by a burst of inspiration, went and grabbed one of her old stuffed bunnies from the shelf. She slipped it gingerly into Chibi-Usa's possession. They all cooed as the tiny tot unconsciously latched onto the bunny, with a death grip even Kenji wouldn't have trifled with.

"I hope you didn't want that back!" he laughed.

"She can have it," Usagi said pleasantly, surprised at her own considerateness. The sky must surely be falling if she was able to share with Chibi-Usa and not also want to pitch a tantrum!

The three regarded their fourth and youngest companion for a time, each lost in quiescent reverie over her introduction (or re-introduction, depending on who you asked) to the family circle. Suddenly Ikuko spoke up, startling Usagi. Her words were gentle; understanding. A soothing balm over an aching wound.

"You must miss Mamoru-san quite a lot, at a time like this."

Usagi's breath caught, and she had to swallow several times before she trusted in her vocal cords once more.  _Yes, yes she did._ With a fervor so ardent it was almost physical pain. She had tried so hard to keep herself occupied; keep her constant and insistent thoughts of him at bay. But it was so, so much harder with Chibi-Usa here.

"We always did this together," Usagi confessed in a small voice. Her eyes were distant but her body was ever-present; she moved forward on legs borne with the ghost of grace, to reach into the crib and begin stroking Chibi-Usa's cheek. "Most people look at her and they just see me. But I, I see  _so much_  of him in her. And that will tide me over until I can have him back - that piece of him in her."

"Children are a miracle, aren't they?" Ikuko opined, with hushed and reverent inflection, and Usagi blushed at the utter adoration her mother's eyes were showering her with. She shyly smiled back as Ikuko bid,

"Goodnight Usagi. Do wake us if you need anything tonight."

Usagi nodded as she received her nightly peck on the forehead, then watched Ikuko depart. She glanced in askance at her father, still lingering, when usually he would have rode bed-ward on her coattails.

Kenji awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Usagi. I just wanted to say... I learned a lot about you tonight. You are an  _amazing_  girl... woman," the dark-haired patriarch corrected, wryly, and there was as much sadness in his voice as there was pride. "Quietly shouldering burdens that even grown men such as myself would balk at."

Usagi had thought that her cheeks couldn't get any redder; apparently, she was wrong. It felt like they were on fire.

"Thank you for trusting us with the truth," Kenji continued, and the verisimilitude in his every word was almost too much for Usagi to bear. She ducked her face to swipe one index across both eyes. At the edge of her vision, she saw two slipper-clad feet come into view. She looked up and there was her father, all broad-chested and sharply-profiled. Her first protector. She used to think he could do anything; that he was never weighed down by any weakness. As it turned out, he was just as fragilely human as the rest of them. "I suppose, at some point in life, there's a role reversal between parents and their children. I always thought I was protecting you - but it turns out,  _you're_  the one protecting  _me_  now. I'll admit - the idea is terrifying. I would give anything to keep you from fighting battles that shouldn't be any of your responsibility. But I know it's too late for that now. You're far too strong-willed, far too driven by an altruism we should all aspire towards, to let someone like me prevent you from becoming who you are meant to be."

"Papa..." Usagi sniffled.

"I can't promise I won't still be frustratingly overprotective. I can't promise I won't still worry endlessly. In fact, I'm pretty sure tomorrow I'm going to wake up entirely silver up top," Kenji teased. He jerked his head at Chibi-Usa. "But I guess there's a reassurance to be found in this one here. Proof you know what you're doing; that you've got a beautiful future ahead of you. Proof that it'll all be okay."

Usagi closed the gap between them in one swift movement. She burrowed herself into the warmth that had for seventeen years been a refuge from the world. Relished, in how encompassing her father's arms were; how safe, the solidity of his chest.

"Yes, it will."

She clung to that belief as she crawled into bed and stared over at the steady rise and fall of her daughter's chest, evident even through the bars of the crib and the shadows of nightfall.

 _It'll be okay_ , she told herself, when an hour later cries like a banshee roused her from deep slumber, and she had to tiredly tend to her infantile ward.

 _It'll be okay_ , she reminded herself, when Mamoru's face flashed across her mind for the umpteenth time, as she laid there trying to reclaim oblivion.

 _It'll be okay_ , she desperately pleaded with herself, when the first deluge of pain hit.


	13. Chapter 12

It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.

Usagi curled in on herself, gasping, scrabbling with desperate fingers at the fabric of her nightclothes. She twisted and pulled and tore; anything to relieve the intense pressure flooding her body. She couldn't say how long it lasted; seconds or minutes. All cogitation fled in the wake of this sensation that could only be described as  _pain_.

And then, just as suddenly as it arrived... it passed.

Usagi resurfaced to her senses slowly, dimly aware that her name was being frantically hissed.

"Usagi-chan! Usagi-chan, are you alright? What's wrong?"

The groggy, sleep-deprived seventeen-year-old ministered to her head.  _What the hell? What_ was _that?_

Her feline companion would not be ignored. The little black cat placed her paws on Usagi's chest and kneaded persistently. "Was it a nightmare? Usagi-chan? Please, answer me, are you okay?"

"Luna! I- yeah, something like that," Usagi replied, shakily. It wasn't true, of course. She had been in full awareness during her strange and unexplained episode of... whatever the hell that was. That much she was sure of. "Where were you? When did you get in?"

She tried to breathe normally, to calm her careening heart rate, while Luna offered up an answer.

"Decided to do a little recon in the park. I only just got back - to find you, thrashing all over the bed!"

Usagi grimaced, wishing Luna wouldn't enunciate herself quite so loudly. "And? Did you find anything?"

The cat sighed. "Nothing. If something nefarious followed Chibi-Usa-chan through the time stream, or if she was led here not of her own volition, there's no sign of their presence. But that doesn't necessarily mean anything ye- Usagi-chan, are you shaking?"

Usagi tried to still her uncontrolled limbs. She almost felt worse, now. Weak. Lightheaded. Were these aftereffects of the pain spell? "I feel kinda sick. I'm just gonna try to sleep it off now, okay?"

She grabbed the covers that were in a disheveled heap off to the side and gathered them close, around her trembling body. Then she closed her eyes tight. Luna's solicitous gaze pierced her consciousness like twin daggers.

"Don't worry. I'm sure I'll be fine in the morning," she murmured, definitely with more assurance than she actually possessed. Luna didn't say anything, but Usagi could tell, her attention never wavered. The girl smiled, ever so slightly. She might have felt wretched, like a sailor cast out onto choppy seas, but she was glad for her guardian's concern.

Usagi drifted back off to sleep, heart teeming with the pleasant feeling of knowing she was cared for, but mind still horribly unsettled by the events of the moments previous.

oOo

When Usagi woke up, it was like nothing ever happened. She had no residual aches, no lingering illness. When she was finally able to foist her cranky future daughter onto her all-too-willing future grandmother, Usagi went directly to the shower. There was a full length mirror in the bathroom, and she took painstaking care to examine herself from every angle.

Nothing.

No bruising, no rashes, no fever flushes. Not even the minutest scratch on her perfectly cream colored skin.

No reason for there to have been pain like a great hand went and collected up all her nerve endings, squeezing so hard it had felt as if her very life force was being sapped clean out of her. The blonde teen sighed, laying a hand on the mirror, then her forehead. She stared deep into her own eyes, drowning in questions as surely as she was the ocean-like depths.

First Chibi-Usa, now this. What did it all mean? Was there a connection?

If so, she couldn't fathom what.

Usagi expelled breath a second - much more frustrated - time. It was too early for this. She exorcised the maudlin musings and moved to flip on the faucet, so ready to dull all fears under a nice, hot, relaxing stream. She washed methodically but quickly. Part of her felt guilty, imposing upon Ikuko's hospitality, and she didn't want to be away from Chibi-Usa for any longer than was necessary.

She changed her mind pretty quickly upon arriving back downstairs.

"NO! NO WANT! NO WANT!"

Usagi thought Ikuko was remaining remarkably patient, considering the fact that she was covered in eggs. And, about to be christened with blueberry oatmeal too, given the force with which Chibi-Usa was striking out at the spoon currently being offered her. "Oh dear."

Kenji, situated suspiciously further down the table next to Shingo, peeked out from behind his newspaper. "She doesn't really like her options."

"She's a spoiled princess, why would she?" Usagi rolled her eyes, wondering if Neo-Queen Serenity was inordinately soft with the child because she was her only, or if the monarch was just lazy. Probably the latter, she chuckled inwardly. It  _was_  still her, after all. "Sorry, Mama."

Usagi maneuvered into Chibi-Usa's line of sight, but still out of firing range. "Chibi-Usa, why won't you eat Grandma's food?"

She tried to inflect just the right amount of chastisement into her voice, and Chibi-Usa pouted in response. She kicked the leg of her highchair, which the odango-headed blonde figured was another relic from the attic.

"Lady no eggs!"

"Grandma worked very hard on those eggs," Usagi chided sternly, as she shifted closer, hands unconsciously planting themselves onto her hips.

"Lady. NO. Eggs!" Chibi-Usa screeched, and to emphasize her point, she grabbed up a couple of the rubbery morsels and flung them Usagi's direction. The girl grimaced at her displaced future spawn as she dispassionately flicked egg off her face and shirt. What a brat! Maybe this was why she only decided to have one of them.

Ikuko rubbed her face tiredly. "I hate to do this, but, Chibi-Usa... sweetie... what  _do_  you want?"

"More cookie," the pint-sized vixen grinned toothily, miming the shortbreads from last night.

"Definitely Usagi's daughter!" Shingo chimed in from his corner of the peanut gallery.

Ikuko looked at Usagi and the teen saw that even her flyaway blue hair had been baptized during the melee that was breakfast. The unspoken imploration in her mother's expression was almost comically desperate. Usagi shrugged; what was one little cave-in to Chibi-Usa's demands? This  _was_  just glorified babysitting, after all.

"Let them have cake," she quoted, was it Marie Antoinette? Perhaps her remedial history lessons were paying off at last. "Or in this case, cookies!"

Ikuko looked outrageously relieved as she bustled off to retrieve the requested leftovers. Usagi sat down and began wiping yellow mush off her daughter's bangs, cheeks, hands. "You, my little brat, are hopeless."

The incorrigible tot smiled again, wider, and Usagi suddenly understood how easily Neo-Queen Serenity might be taken in by this child's whims. Those dimples really were heart-melting.

oOo

Luna appeared about a half an hour later, curling around Usagi's legs with a self-satisfied little smirk.

"You look like the cat who caught the mouse," Usagi teased, spoon-feeding applesauce to Chibi-Usa, who had finally been coerced into something healthy, making Usagi feel like maybe she wasn't a  _complete_  failure as a mother.

"An accurate description," Luna demurred, rubbing her cheek in affectionate greeting against Usagi's leg. Kenji had left for an early call-in to the magazine, but Ikuko and Shingo were still nibbling on the remains of their breakfast. Luna conspicuously ignored the way they were staring at her, like she was some alien entity who had just proclaimed her affinity for anal probing. Apparently, and perhaps rightfully so, a good night's sleep hadn't made the 'talking cats' bit any easier to swallow. "I came across Mako-chan earlier, and mentioned you were thinking about taking Chibi-Usa-chan to the play park. She seemed very interested, if you wanted the company."

"I'd love that!" Usagi exclaimed, visibly brightening at the thought. "I wonder if any of the others would want to join, as well?"

As it turned out, Rei had shrine maiden duties and Ami was putting in a little extra cram work, but Minako was all too eager to get out of the house.

"My parents are killing me! All they care about is their cocktail party tonight with the tennis club. I may be the Senshi of 'Love', but if I have to hear about their all-time average scores  _one more time_..." Minako broke off with a self-aggrandizing little cackle. "Senshi of  _Love_. Get it? Because they start out the match with 'love' points in tennis?"

"You're hysterically clever," Usagi stroked the other blonde's ego, with an amused roll of her eyes. "See you at 10:30?"

"Sharp!" Minako chirped, before severing the connection. Usagi tucked her communicator away in her pocket.

"That's a really handy device," Shingo commented, getting up to stack his dishes beside the sink. "Like a burner phone!"

"What's a burner phone?" Usagi queried, crinkling her nose in obfuscation.

Shingo sighed dramatically. "A Sailor Senshi, and she's still slower than a slug! It's like an untraceable cellphone. You know, like in those buddy cop movies?"

"Oh," Usagi said, fingering the bulge in her skirt pocket. "Guess you're right!"

Ikuko came bustling back then, and she was lugging a rickety stroller that looked to have seen better days.

"Mama! Seriously?" Usagi exclaimed, standing up to go lend a hand. "Have you and Papa just been hoarding all our old baby stuff for all these years?"

"Of course! In hopes you and Shingo would find use of them. We just didn't think we'd have our first grandchild on such short notice," the matronly woman chuckled. Ikuko waved Usagi back into her chair. "No, no, you stay. I have something for you that I forgot to give yesterday, in all the excitement."

Usagi watched as her mother produced a thin white envelope from out of her apron's front flap. Her heart began to thrum rapidly.

"Is that...?"

"It is." Ikuko's smile stretched her cheeks taut as she passed the piece of mail over, into Usagi's awaiting - and fiercely trembling - fingers. She identified Mamoru's spindly handwriting immediately, and her eyes began to well without permission. The last 24 hours had been trying, to say the least. Like a lifetime unto itself. So with everything that had been going on, receiving word from her beloved was rather like gulping the first breath of fresh air after traveling in a hot, cramped and dingy car for hours on end. He made the load easier - he always had. The seventeen-year-old raised the letter to her lips. She could just imagine Mamoru's smell as he sat down to pen out this note, like chocolate musk mixed with something earthy. Something uniquely him.

The girl excused herself to go read, and undoubtedly cry, in private. The sun was coruscating when she went outside; warm in a way that intimated the heat wave to come, presuming the weathermen were correct in their predictions. All in all, it was rather pleasant morning.

 ** _My beautiful, sweet Usako_ ,** the missive began. Oh yeah, there was no way she was going to make it through this in one piece. Usagi sniffled and sat down on their front stoop, eyes jumping down to the next line.

_**I'm sorry this letter is a bit shorter than my last two. The workload here is, to put it mildly, hectic. There was certainly no easing into our courses. They expect a lot out of us. I'm keeping up so far, but in all honesty... I'm not sure I'm enjoying myself like I thought I would. America is overwhelming. They do not value tradition quite like we do in Japan. The customs are strange, the classes are really not all they're cracked up to be, but most of all, more than any of that... I miss you. I miss your blue eyes like deep sapphires, always bright and happy. I miss your cherry blossom lips; your glowing golden hair. The way you lunge when you go to hug me... so exuberantly, you often trip halfway and I end up having to catch you instead. I may tease you about that, but I love catching you. I want to always be there to catch you. This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do, be away from you for this long, and I don't know if I'm that strong of a man, Usako. But I'll try.** _

_**Tell me, how are your classes going? Be sure to keep heeding all of Ami's advice. You've been doing so well this year, and I'm so proud of you. You girls are staying out of trouble, I hope? I've been worried out of my mind ever since I left. I've had this strange, persisting feeling that even a wander off campus couldn't shake. Cambridge is beautiful, but not beautiful enough to distract me from thoughts of you! Reassure a neurotic old man, will you? I know it's only been a week, but write me as soon as you can.** _

_**I love you, Usako.** _

**_Mamoru_ **

Usagi swallowed, rubbing the persistent moisture from out of her eyes, careful not to smudge the ink with an errant tear. She traced his last, the words "I love you", savoring them like a starving homeless man would a three course meal. She felt terribly guilty now for not having written yet, and scolded her stupidity. Of course he would worry. Wasn't she in the exact same position last year? How had she felt, left in the dark, not even a sliver of hope that he still cared; that he was even still alive? Memories of that time, of the battle with Galaxia and losing those she loved as they were picked off one by one, assaulted Usagi's mind. She shivered.

 _No. Never again. It won't happen like that, ever_   _again_.

She resolved to write a letter today, no matter how dull and mundane it sounded. Although, it wouldn't now, would it? Usagi nibbled her lower lip.  _Should_  she tell Mamoru about the unexpected arrival of their future daughter; her state as it was? Or would that just encourage his anxiety... Maybe even incite an early trip home?

She didn't want that. She ached to see him, yes, with an ache that was so ever-present it was almost debilitating. But the odangoed blonde did  _not_  want to be the cause of him falling behind on schoolwork; maybe even losing his scholarship. She wanted him to follow through on his dreams. Not just follow through, but  _excel_. Mamoru had potential to be one of the finest doctors around. If by delaying her dream, that meant Mamoru would achieve his, Usagi would gladly and without complaint wait as long as it took. They  _would_  get married, eventually. She just had to be patient.

The princess of the moon started from out of her reverie. She sat up straight, staring at the street, having sworn she'd spied a flash of green, out of place in the periphery of her vision. But the road was empty; no cars or pedestrians to speak of. Usagi shook her head, laughing at her own paranoia. It was probably just a stray leaf on the wind.

She stood, stretched, and placed the letter lovingly into her pocket, beside the communicator. Then the girl bounded into the house, feeling light as a feather.

"Ready to go, Chibi-Usa!?"


	14. Chapter 13

Usagi rounded the corner from her house, only to yelp in surprise when she nearly had a head-on collision.

"Mako-chan!"

Makoto pinwheeled on the sidewalk for a moment before catching herself on Chibi-Usa's stroller. The toddler within screeched with mirth and clapped her hands.

"Er... hi!"

"I didn't expect to see you here so soon. You scared me half to death!" Usagi exclaimed, clutching her heart.

"I was in the area," Makoto said promptly, and Usagi could have swore her brawny-bodied companion exchanged a quick look with Luna before answering. But when she turned her full attention to the cat perched beside her, Luna's face was devoid of expression. Usagi frowned, but shrugged it off. Her imagination did funny things on lack of sleep.

"Ugh, you are sooooo cute!" Makoto crooned, crouching now to greet little Chibi-Usa. "I seriously cannot get enough of these  _cheeks_! You and Mamoru-san sure make adorable babies, Usagi-chan!"

Usagi blushed, still thrown off by the fact that this was, indeed,  _her_  daughter. She supposed it wouldn't truly sink in until the day she actually pushed her out and had the newborn placed in her arms... A far off and hazy daydream to her still naive adolescent mind.

Usagi resurfaced from musings of the future when Makoto asked,

"To the park we go?"

Usagi smiled brightly and pushed the stroller onward. "Yep! Minako-chan's coming too, but she'll meet us there. '10:30 sharp'!"

"So 11:00," Makoto deadpanned, trailing in Usagi's shadow.

"Yeeeeep."

oOo

By some cosmic fluke, Minako actually managed to make it on time (or at least within ten minutes of the time she provided - which was a miracle any way you looked at it, considering the girl's usual track record). The effervescent blonde in her hot pink sundress skipped into the park with an even hotter piece of gossip, judging by the puckish look on her smirking features.

"Guess what, guess what, guess whaaat!"

"What?" Usagi and Makoto chirped in unison, sitting beside Chibi-Usa at the edge of the in-ground sandbox. There were a couple other small children puttering away with their shovels and buckets around them, but Chibi-Usa seemed to be conspicuously ignoring them in favor of making sloppy mud pies. Usagi cringed as she realized this would be the second outfit her future daughter would have ruined today. Kids were so  _messy_!

Minako skidded to a halt, stopping for a second to simply catch her breath. The other girls watched her expectantly.

"Must be big if she ran all this way," Makoto mumbled to Usagi.

"Big! Very big!" Minako exclaimed, coming alive once more as she threw her hands up in the air. Below them, Chibi-Usa parroted the motion - inadvertently flinging dirt every direction.

"Big! Big!"

"Massive," Minako nodded at the toddler, and Chibi-Usa observed the animated blonde with wide eyes, seemingly enthralled by her hyperkinetic nature.

"Well are you going to share with the class or just stand there and tease us some more?" Makoto drawled, arching an impatient brow.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there," Minako waved dismissively. "So I'm walking down the street to meet you guys, right? And I round the corner heading onto Main and it must have been my fifth sense at work-"

" _Sixth_ -"

"Fine, whatever,  _sixth_  sense at work... because who do I spy but none other than  _Kumada Yuuichiro_ with an  _armful of roses_!  _Roses_ , you guys! So of course I have to confront him and I was like, 'Where are you going with those, Yuuichiro-san?' And he got allllllll flustered and red and he wouldn't tell me. Veeeery cagey-like. So then I followed him a little ways until he realized he had a tail and refused to go further, but I  _know_  he had been heading towards the shrine!"

Usagi squealed. "Oh my God! Do you think they were for Rei-chan? Do you think he's finally gonna ask her out!?"

"Well I doubt they were for Grampa!" Minako huffed with a dramatic, long-suffering roll of the eyes.

Makoto grinned as she let out a languid whistle. "Damn. About time!"

"Those two have been dancing around each other for  _years_  now. It's getting ridiculous!" Minako said, shaking her head in sheer disbelief. "Rei-chan is so stubborn. We all know she likes the guy! I mean, yeah, he's a total goober, class A, but he's such a sweet goober, you know?"

Usagi nodded like she knew what a 'goober' meant. She clapped her hands together excitedly. "I wanna sneak into the shrine and see what's going on!"

"Me too, me too!" Minako agreed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. They were both beginning to get that manic gleam in their eyes that generally precluded hair-brained schemes and mass mayhem.

"Excuse me," a vaguely disgruntled voice interrupted, and the three Senshi looked down to see Luna appear out of nowhere beside Usagi. She kept her tone low to avoid attracting suspicion, though it stayed just as imperious as before. "But I do believe there are other  _responsibilities_  we must attend to, before gallivanting off to eavesdrop on exchanges that are best left  _private_?"

Sunlight glinted off an impossibly sharp claw as she pointed it at Chibi-Usa.

"Lady swing now. I go swing!" Chibi-Usa announced, standing up to shake the dirt off herself and doing a very good impression of Linus from Charlie Brown while she was at it. Usagi grimaced sheepishly - Luna was right. She really shouldn't go running off on flights of fancy when she had her future baby daughter in tow... and she probably shouldn't bother Rei and Yuuichiro right now either, much as it pained her to admit it.

Growing up kind of sucked.

"Jupta!  _Jupta_!"

Makoto blinked when Chibi-Usa began tapping her thigh, gazing at the child in curious delight. "You know my name?"

Chibi-Usa laughed at her like it was a silly question.

"Do you know me? Who am I?" Minako asked loudly, bending over to smile down at the tiny pink-headed time-traveler. She gestured towards herself. "Who's this, Chibi-Usa-chan?"

"You Veus," Chibi-Usa answered promptly, and there was a comical expression on her face that, if she had a more sophisticated grasp on spoken language, would probably have translated into  _"I'm not an idiot, Venus."_  It was a classic Chibi-Usa response, full of her famous sass, and it brought a familiar warmth to Usagi's heart... as well as a less familiar ache. Her daughter was here, and yet she missed the old Chibi-Usa terribly.

"Jupta... push Lady swing?"

Makoto "Aww"ed and glanced at Usagi as if for permission. Usagi shrugged and made a "Have at it!" motion. Makoto jumped up and dusted her navy shorts off, helping Chibi-Usa to clamber out of the sandbox. The toddler looked back as they headed for the swing-set, hand-in-hand.

"Bye-bye, Mama!"

It took Usagi a second to remember who Chibi-Usa was talking to.

"Bye, Chibi-Usa," she said too late, watching as Makoto lifted her future offspring onto the swing, and marveling with a ping of what might have been jealousy at what a natural her friend was with small children. Usagi dashed the unwelcome emotion just as she felt a hand rest upon her own.

"Still feels surreal, huh?" Minako commented, gently. Usagi sighed, grateful for the shift to compassion she saw happen in Minako's features. They both had a tendency to hide behind their humor, so it was nice to let down her guard for once. The two wandered over to a far more comfortable bench nearby. Luna trotted in their wake, ever diligent in her guardian duties.

"Very," Usagi replied, with no shortage of self-pity for her plight. "I don't know how parents do it! She's exhausting. But I guess I shouldn't complain too much. My Mama and Papa are really helping out a lot. It's... relieving to have them know the truth about me now. They see me in a whole new way."

"Must be nice," Minako murmured, and her voice was sadness ladened in steel. Minako was incredibly self-reliant, and Usagi knew that a large part of that was because Minako's mother and father were often too caught up in their own affairs to be parents to their own daughter. It broke her heart to see any of her friends bereft of the love and appreciation they so deserved. Usagi enveloped Minako in a bear hug. She didn't say anything; nothing could be said. They both knew it wasn't fair, and they were both fully aware nothing would change in the near future either. But at least they had each other, and that was enough.

"Hey," Minako said, straining in Usagi's grip. "Is that a letter sticking out of your pocket? I've seen you fiddling with it all day."

"Oh yeah!" Usagi pulled back, reaching down to bring the missive out into the open. Her countenance went bright as a bulb and she smiled widely, stroking the much-worn creases from having been unfolded and re-folded umpteen times over. "Mamo-chan sent me another letter. He says he misses my 'cherry blossom lips' and 'eyes like deep sapphire'... isn't he just the sweetest!?"

Minako grinned at the way Usagi seemed to be fairly melting under the power of her prince's adulation.

"I see he hasn't lost his Kamen-like way of turning a phrase," Minako chortled, the teasing in her tone heavy-handed.

"Heyyy... what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing at all!"

"You need another poker face, Minako-chan."

Their banter was swiftly cut off by a sudden guttural roar, unnatural in its intensity. The two started, Senshi instincts kicking in as they tensed, on high alert. Usagi saw Minako grab her henshin rod just as Makoto bounded over with Chibi-Usa in her arms.

Off in the distance, but getting closer by the second, was a large crashing and the sound of people screaming. Those still in the park were starting to scatter in fear.

"Usagi-chan! You take Chibi-Usa-chan and go!"

"But-" Usagi protested, even as her daughter was being stuffed into her protective grasp.

"We've got this.  _Go_!"

Usagi was taken aback by the fire in Makoto's demand and the frightened look in Minako's eyes. She had the brief but distinct impression that they knew something she didn't.

" _Someone has to get her out of here_!" Makoto growled, giving Usagi a little shove. The ground was literally beginning to quake beneath their feet. Someone - or some _thing_  - was coming...

And fast.

"Right," Usagi gasped out, squeezing Chibi-Usa tighter to herself. She turned tail and started running -

Just as all hell broke loose.


	15. Chapter 14

It was too late.

There was no way they were going to be able to get away in time.

The ground rumbled again and Usagi lost her footing by the outer fringes of the park, failing to keep her balance amidst the reverberations. As she toppled to earth, she doubled her hold on Chibi-Usa and twisted her body so that her left side took the brunt of the fall, and her right - which cradled the small girl - took none. That didn't stop Chibi-Usa from howling bloody murder, however.

"Are you alright, Usagi-chan!" Luna cried, nudging at her charge.

"I'm fine," Usagi groaned, sitting up and wincing. Her elbows and knees ached, but she ignored the irksome sting of fresh road burn to direct her focus upon her inconsolably sobbing daughter. "Hush, Chibi-Usa. We're okay."

"I scared!" she choked out. "I scared, Mama!"

"I know. Me too. But Sailor Senshi are here. See?" Usagi pointed to a spot about a hundred yards away, where Minako and Makoto once stood, but now was occupied by Sailors Venus and Jupiter. The two had one eye on the quickly impending danger, and the other on their fallen comrades. "Just like at home... They're going to protect us. But to let them better do their job, we have to go hide. And we have to be really, really quiet, okay Chibi-Usa? That means no crying. We have to be big girls. Big, brave girls. Can you do that, sweetie?"

Chibi-Usa sniffled, wiping her runny nose as she nodded. "Hide seek?"

"Kind of," Usagi said, grasping Chibi-Usa under one arm as she crawled into the brush with her. "Stay close to Us- er, to Mama okay?"

Man, that felt way too weird.

No sooner had they staked out behind some bramble and a large tree, when the source of the commotion and widespread panic came barreling into Juban Park. It was not at all the typically horrific creature Usagi was expecting; was used to confronting in the throes of battle. She wondered if Venus and Jupiter were as dumbfounded as she, at the strange sight that was unfolding before them.

Kumada Yuuichiro was roaring like a wild lion caged. His features had warped; become insane. His eyes were gleaming violent red, and it wasn't just his eyes - the rest of his body had metamorphosed as well. Muscles that had once been of a respectable size now tripled in girth until they were bursting out of his sleeves. He was taller; heftier. Superhuman. Every step he took rattled the ground. But the worst part -

He was covered in blood. From head to foot, it was smeared all over him, and Usagi had to cover her mouth as the bile rose in her throat. She realized she had no idea whether it was his or someone else's, and she prayed to God that no others had been harmed in his unexplained transition into a feral monster.  _What was going on!?_

"BREAK THE CHAINS!"

The odd war cry came from this monstrous new version of Yuuichiro, and it was followed by a vicious punch to the wooden play set. The boards rattled and caved, splinters raining everywhere. Usagi caught a flash of white, and was horrified when she realized there had been a small child, not much older than Chibi-Usa was now, hiding out beneath the play set. There was a scared shriek and the child - a girl, Usagi inferred, from the colorful dress she wore - skittered away on her knees across the wood chips.

"Oh God..."

"Usagi-chan," Luna spoke up, very quietly. Her voice was laden with warning, as if she knew exactly what Usagi was thinking. "Let the girls handle this."

Usagi continued watching in horror as her Senshi clearly struggled to understand what they were seeing, while keeping proactive about the situation. Venus raised her hand and, after a brief moment of hesitation, shouted,

"Venus Love-Me Chain!"

The golden hearts sailed pulsing from her fingertips and wrapped around Yuuchiro, dragging him back from the play set. The little girl had pushed herself into a far corner, crying vociferously for her mother, who was nowhere in sight. It broke Usagi's heart as much as if it had been Chibi-Usa under there, alone and fearful for her life.

"Luna..."

"BREAK THE CHAINS!" Yuuichiro began to quiver, his muscles fairly rolling with pent up energy within. Venus gasped, doubling her hold on the Love-Me Chain but it looked like he was about to do exactly that which he was threatening. The man turned monster roared again.

"I- I can't hold him!" the blonde warrior yelled, shooting a look of panic towards Jupiter. Her heels began to slide across the ground as Yuuichiro strained and pulled, his eyes set solely on the sobbing child. Their unnatural hue grew hungry; even more crazed.

"Where is she..." he moaned. "Where is she... I must... break the chains..."

"Yuuichiro-san!" Jupiter exclaimed, darting in front of him. She reached out and forcibly shook his shoulders. "Snap out of it!"

It was as if he gazed right through her.

"Something's wrong... it's like he's possessed," Jupiter said, still trying to peer into his eyes and summon some specter of their friend back into being.

"I don't know what to do- I don't want to hurt him," Venus grit out, the sweat creating a visible sheen across her forehead. "But he's so strong!"

In that instant, Yuuichiro jolted unexpectedly, his movement so violent it sent Jupiter careening backward and Venus flying forward.

"BREAK THE CHAINS!"

The Love-Me hold shattered, golden beams renting the air around him as Yuuichiro emerged from Venus' attack victorious, and he began to charge for the play set. The little girl screamed.

Usagi couldn't take it anymore. She released Chibi-Usa and was on her way out of the bush when something stopped her short. She whirled around, startled and angry to find Luna had sunk her sharp teeth right into the hem of her skirt and was steadfastly refusing to let go. "Get off, Luna! I have to help!"

"No - you - don't! You're - needed -  _here_!" Luna snarled, around the fabric in her mouth. Usagi glanced to Chibi-Usa, who was trembling wildly as she watched the fighting unfold off in the distance. The odango-headed teen was utterly torn, knowing she had a duty to protect this toddler yet feeling sure she could help bring Yuuichiro back from the depths of this insanity.

"If you could just... take care of her for a second..."

"No!"

"But maybe with my crystal-"

" _No_!" Luna sounded even more upset about that than she had anything else, and Usagi was flummoxed, staring hard at the small yet fierce feline as if by glaring her down she would both get her way, and some answers to the niggling feeling like everyone knew something she didn't. But it was as futile as arguing with a stone wall; the cat had an unwavering stubbornness.

"FIRE SOUL!"

Usagi jumped, surprise spurring her attention back onto the battle, and she noticed that the cavalry had arrived. Mars rushed into the park with Mercury fast on her tail, and the shock on their faces was so abject it was almost comical. Still, Usagi could tell that Mars was quickly compartmentalizing, a feat she herself had never learned to master, the shrine priestess' lips turning down as she watched the flames claim her crazed housemate.

"Don't hold back!" she called to the others, with a stern edge to her voice. "This wolf in friend's clothing has left a path of destruction from here to the city. We have to bring him down, now, before this gets any worse!"

"But Mars-"

"He'll be alright. Our attacks are only affecting his magical signature, of which Yuuichiro shouldn't have any. If we can overpower him, it should break the spell making him like this," Mars assured, watching stoically as Yuuichiro writhed. "At least... that's our hypothesis based on what I can divine and Mercury's computer can infer."

"You better be right about this," Jupiter growled, the lightning rod already rising from her tiara as she powered up. The other girls followed suit, energy crackling in the very air around them, but no no no... Usagi had a horrible feeling, a horrible feeling that what if they were wrong and this killed Yuuichiro instead, and she couldn't let that happen when she could do something about it. Not when she was the one gifted with the ability to heal, yet they hadn't even let her attempt that route before throwing all their attacks on a mere human. It was madness. Madness she and only she could stop.

Usagi ripped free from Luna's jaws with strength she didn't know possible and called back apologetically, "Just five minutes, please!" before bolting for the center of the fray. She ignored Luna's repudiations and yanked off her broach with the words of only yesterday ringing out her throat, only now under drastically different circumstances.

"Moon Eternal, Make Up!"


End file.
